Florida Atlantic Drops Five-Set Heartbreaker at North Texas

Friday, September 25

Denton, Texas

7 p.m.

Florida Atlantic

7-5,0-1American

North Texas

8-4,1-0American

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Fla. Atlantic	16	25	25	26	11	2
North Texas	25	17	21	28	15	3

9/25/2026 10:45:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

DENTON, Texas – The Florida Atlantic volleyball team dropped a five-set heartbreaker in its American Conference opener on Friday, falling 3-2 (16-25, 25-17, 25-21, 26-28, 11-15) against the North Texas Mean Green inside the UNT Volleyball Center.

The Owls fall to 7-5 overall and 0-1 in American play, while North Texas moves to 8-4 overall and 1-0 in conference play.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Owls started the night slow as North Texas opened the match on a 12-3 run to hold the early advantage and led 15-7 at the opening media break. The Owls tried to rally late, going on a 6-3 run to cut the deficit down to 24-16, however, it was too little too late as the Mean Green took the opening frame 25-16.

After battling through a tight 6-5 FAU lead in the second set, the Owls produced a 5-1 run to lead by five, 11-6, and force a Mean Green timeout. Anna Hartman tallied back-to-back kills to extend the Owls advantage back to 15-11 at the second set technical timeout. The Owls and Mean Green traded points until a UNT service error and an Olivia Hart kill gave the Owls a 20-15 lead, prompting North Texas to call its second and final timeout of the second. FAU controlled the set the rest of the way, closing the set on a 5-2 run to take the second 25-17 and even the match at one apiece.

The Owls opened the third on a 5-0 run, however, North Texas responded with a 5-1 run of its own to close within one, 6-5. The two squads continued trading blows through a 14-13 UNT lead, however, the Owls capitalized off a kill from Sequoia Layne and a Mean Green attacking error to retake the lead 15-14 at the third set media break. FAU extended its lead to 17-14 out of the break, however the Mean Green battled back to tie up the set at 18-18, forcing the Owls to call their first timeout. Following the break, the Owls went on a 4-2 run, capped off by another Hart kill, to retake the lead 22-20 and spark the Mean Green to call their second and final timeout of the third. UNT got one back to cut the Owls' lead to 22-21.FAU closed the set on a 3-0 run with kills from Layne and Hartman to take the lead, 2-1, after the 25-21 set three win.

The fourth was another back-and-forth battle. Following a tight 11-10 UNT lead, the Mean Green produced a 4-1 run to hold the 15-11 lead at the fourth set media break. Following an FAU timeout trailing 20-17, the Owls produced a 6-3 run to tie up the fourth at 23. The Owls held match point after an ace from Isabelle Northam, 24-23, however, the Owls and Mean Green traded blows before UNT took the 28-26 win to force a final deciding fifth set.

FAU opened the fifth on a 3-1 run, but the Mean Green answered back, going on a 4-1 run to take the 5-4 lead. The Owls led 7-6 after another kill from Libby Ashline, however, the Mean Green scored four unanswered to spark the Owls to call a pair of timeouts, trailing 10-7. The two squads traded side outs the rest of the way as the Mean Green eventually took the fifth 15-11 to close out the five-set battle.

STATS & NOTES

Four Owls registered double figures in the contest, led by Hartman with 13 kills and hitting .500 through five sets, while also adding three blocks and two digs.
Ashline, Hart, and Layne rounded out the Owls' double-figure scorers, registering, 11, 10, and 10 kills respectively.
Layne absolutely dominated at the net, posting a career-best and match-leading eight blocks against North Texas.
Maya Van Heyst dished out a match-high 44 assists, in addition to adding eight digs and three kills against the Mean Green.
Isabelle Northam led the Owls back row with a team-high 18 digs, while Luye Marquez-Moreno finished with a season-best 15 digs on the night.
As a team, the Owls outpaced the Mean Green in service aces, 7-2, and blocks, 11-7.

UP NEXT
The Owls will close out their conference-opening weekend on Sunday, Sept. 27 as they visit the UTSA Roadrunners for a 2 p.m. ET first serve inside the Convocation Center on ESPN+.

FOLLOW THE OWLS
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