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- No. 20 Western Kentucky (18-3, 4-0 SBC) at North Texas
(17-6, 3-1 SBC)
Friday, Oct. 5, 7 p.m.
- Middle Tennessee (4-15, 1-3 SBC) at North Texas
Sunday, Oct. 7, 1 p.m.
Live Stats
Free Webcast
Game Notes
DENTON, Texas – To say that Western Kentucky and Middle
Tennessee are the measuring sticks of Sun Belt Conference volleyball might be
an understatement. At least one of the two squads has advanced to the league
title game in each of the last 11 seasons, and they’ve combined to win the last
seven SBC titles.
This weekend it will be the North Texas volleyball team that
hopes to measure up against the league’s best when No. 20 Western Kentucky and Middle
Tennessee come to Denton.
WKU is the defending Sun Belt champion, and has won 17 of
their last 18 matches, including a 3-1 win over No. 10 Dayton and a five-setter
over No. 22 Michigan. The defending SBC Player of the Year, Jordyn Skinner, leads
WKU attack with 3.16 KPS. MTSU has struggled to a 4-15 mark after winning five
of the last six league tournament titles. Opponents are hitting .240 on the
Blue Raiders.
North Texas will try to counter with the blocking power of
Courtney Windham, this week’s Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week. She posted
17 blocks on the weekend (2.12 per set), including a career-best 11 blocks in
three sets at Arkansas State – the most by any Sun Belt player in a
three-setter, and the third most overall. The junior finished the road trip
ranked eighth in NT history in single-season total blocks and assisted blocks.
North Texas had a chance to tie the 2002 squad for the
longest win streak in school history, but that bid was cut short by UALR in a
heartbreaking marathon match on Saturday. NT had won seven straight matches,
which was only one win shy of the 2002 school record, before falling in five
sets to the Trojans.
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