Oct. 1, 2006
Box Score
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - The UT Arlington volleyball team went into intermission trailing 2-0 and not playing their best volleyball. After the 10-minute intermission, a new Mavericks team came out to play and UTA escaped Johnson Coliseum with a 27-30, 27-30, 30-28, 30-18, 15-5 victory over Sam Houston State Saturday evening. The victory improved the Mavs to 5-1 in five-game matches this season.
Lost in the hoopla of the tremendous comeback was the play of the senior libero Ashley Smith. Just going about her normal business, Smith amassed 43 digs in the match and set a new-single match record for digs. She broke the old record of 41 digs held by Chris Rudiger and Jessica Bowlin. Smith recorded 13 digs in the opening game and followed it up with eight in game two, nine in game three, eight more in the fourth game and five in the final game.
SHSU (6-8, 1-3 SLC) rode the play of outside hitter Cynthia Yarotsky in the first two games as she recorded 10 kills and 22 digs. The two teams took turns going on four-point runs in the opening game until the score was tied 25-25. The Bearkats had the final run of the game as they got three kills from three different players to end the game.
The second game was pretty much the same as the first as two teams battle and found themselves again tied 25-25. Three hitting errors from the Mavs and kill by Rhae Walderman ended game two.
UTA (13-6, 2-1 SLC) did not play their best game of the season in the third game, but came through in the end for the victory. With the score tied 24-24, UTA took a two-point lead on a Gina Kalb kill and a hitting error from Walderman. The Bearkats battled back to take a 28-27 advantage before an Ellen Murray tied the game. UTA took the lead on a SHSU error and Dani Johnson ended the game with a kill.
UTA used the momentum from winning the third game to race out to a 17-6 lead in game four. Murray led the way with three kills and a block assist. Two straight kills from Brittany Humbach brought the Bearkats to within seven, but Kalb recorded two kills to take the momentum back. The advantage would grow back to 13 points on a pair of hitting errors from SHSU before another hitting error ended the game.
The deciding game was completely one-sided as the Mavs scored the first seven points of the game and found themselves ahead 10-2. UTA recorded 11 kills with zero errors on 17 attempts for a .647 hitting percentage.
Smith was not the only player to enjoy a career evening as Kalb recorded a career-best 12 kills and Murray tied her career-high with 17 kills. Torie Dacus just missed her career-best with 26 digs and Johnson recorded a double-double with 14 kills and 18 digs. Emily Nedderman narrowly missed out on another triple-double as she had nine kills and nine digs to go along with 56 assists. She also added seven blocks. Yarotsky led the Bearkats with 17 kills and 34 digs.
The Mavs return to action on Oct. 6 as they play host to new-Southland Conference foe Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. First serve is set for 7 p.m. at Texas Hall.
