Sept. 11, 2004

ARLINGTON, Texas - Ashley Van Antwerp had 15 kills and Morgan Rogers added 13 as a balanced Texas-Arlington squad improved to 7-1 on the season with a 3-0 win (30-13, 30-20, 30-25) over Arkansas-Little Rock during the 2004 Arlington Hilton/UTA Invitational volleyball tournament here Saturday morning.

The 7-1 start matches the best start in school history tying the 1988, 1987 and 1985 squads. Arkansa-Little Rock falls to 4-3 on the year.

The Mavericks used precision attacks to hit a season-high .368 attack percentage for the match. Defensively, the Mavericks got 15 kills from Rogers and 13 for Van Antwerp and Caley Smith.

UTA never trailed in games one and two. The Mavs built a quick 11-3 lead in game one after three consecutive UALR hitting errors. The lead grew to 23-7 after a kill by Melissa Marek.

Game two had UTA break away from UALR midway through the game. Leading 14-10, UTA went on an 8-4 run to take a 22-14 lead after a Caley Smith kill. UALR never got within seven points the rest of the way as Van Antwerp landed a pair of kills down the stretch and Rogers closed out the game with a winner down the sideline.

Game three saw UTA's freshmen shine. Newcomers Gina Kalb and Morgan Rogers combined for 10 kills in as UTA rallied from a 17-16 deficit to win.

UTA will host Indiana tonight at 7 p.m. The Mavericks open Southland Conference play Tuesday at Texas State at 7 p.m.

utamavs.com