Southern Miss Falls to North Texas to Begin Series

Sunday, March 21

Hattiesburg, Miss.

12 p.m.

Southern Miss

-97,45 CUSA

North Texas

-109,56 CUSA

North Texas

Southern Miss.

Southern Miss Falls to North Texas to Begin Series

3/21/2021 2:00:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- A thrilling comeback in the third and final set was not enough for Southern Miss in a 3-0 defeat to North Texas on Sunday (19-25, 20-25, 26-28).

Southern Miss (9-7, 4-5 C-USA) rallied from 18-12 down to tie it at 20, which included an ace and kill from Madison Lawler, the latter serving as just her second for the season. It remained tied at points 22-26, where on the fourth set-point UNT benefited from a pair of attack errors. In all, there were 16 ties and eight lead changes in that final frame.

"I thought we played pretty well," head coach Stephanie Radecki said. "We definitely did a nice job pushing our middles, and they had a great day. We had unforced errors at bad times, and we'll make some changes for tomorrow. North Texas is a really good team, and I feel good about where we're at this time of year."

Duquesne Moratzka's 12 kills and 14 digs marked her second double-double of the season and first of the spring. Kinsley Hanback also maintained her season-long high-efficiency with 10 kills on 18 tries. Freshman setter Maddie Stayer also transitioned into a hitter role and had six kills after having two in three prior matches.

Kenzie Smith started at setter while Piper Matsumoto appeared late in the third. The Golden Eagles hit .216 as a team, including .325 in the first, but North Texas hit .333 for the day as well.

The two teams will meet again at 11 a.m. Monday, the final home match for the Golden Eagles.