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photo courtesy of Rick Yeatts

Bearing Down: Volleyball Sweeps Baylor

Courtesy: University of North Texas

Release: 09/18/2012

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VB: Mean Green Set Record Pace, Earn 50th Win Of Murczek Era

Box Score

DENTON, Texas – In front of a standing-room only crowd, Ken Murczek and the North Texas volleyball team picked up the signature win they were looking for – the program’s first win over Baylor since 1983 (25-19, 25-22, 25-22).

“I’m just thrilled that we played our brand of volleyball,” Murczek said. “The crowd was amazing, and it was great to carry over an awesome weekend into such a big match for us. We’re capable of doing this every match, but we’ve just got to work on our consistency.”

North Texas (14-5) hit .337 in sweeping the Bears (13-2), whose only previous loss came at No. 8 Hawaii. The victory ends a 16 match losing streak to Baylor, and marks the Mean Green’s first win over a Big 12 school since a 2001 win over Oklahoma.

Carnae Dillard posted a match-high 13 kills, while Eboni Godfrey poured in 10 kills on a career-best .476 attack percentage. Courtney Windham, a Baylor transfer, rocked her old school with nine kills and a match-high six blocks.

After rolling in the first set with a sideout percentage of 73 percent, North Texas found itself tied with the Bears at 21 apiece in the second frame. That’s when Windham landed a pair of kills, including the set winner, and May Allen scored an ace to pull away from Baylor. As a team, NT hit .538 against BU in the second set.

On the defensive front, Shelby Tamura paved the way with a match-high 15 digs. NT out-blocked the Bears 8-5.

Analisse Shannon, who missed the 2011 season with an injury, showed the crowd of 622 that she has regained her form. The redshirt freshman landed six kills on .455 hitting, none more important than her third-set attack that brought NT back to within a point at 21-20. Dillard, Godfrey and Windham took over from there with kills of their own to end the match.

The win over Baylor ends non-conference play for the Mean Green. NT moves into Sun Belt play this weekend, and will host Louisiana Lafayette on Saturday and ULM on Sunday. Both matches start at 1 p.m.