Oct. 13, 2006
Box Score
ARLINGTON, Texas - UT Arlington head coach Diane Seymour put her team through a long, tough practice Thursday evening. That practice ended with the coaching staff pushing across the point that that is the reason why they are so successful in five-set matches.
On Friday night, the Mavericks proved their coaches correct as they rallied from a horrible start to the match to hand McNeese State its first conference loss of the season, 14-30, 32-30, 23-30, 30-23, 15-11 in front of a rowdy crowd at Texas Hall. The victory improved UTA to 6-1 five-set matches this season.
"I think we are going to come down to a few more dog fights this year and I wanted to remind them I am not going to give it to them easy in practice," said Seymour. "I kept them over three hours yesterday to prove a point that I am not going to let you out of practice because I fell sorry for you and nobody is going to let you win a match because they feel sorry for you."
The story of the night was the play of Cowgirls' libero Jessica Strama as she recorded a NCAA-best 62 digs in the match. No other player in NCAA Division I recorded more than 50 digs in a match this season.
The Cowgirls (7-10, 5-1 SLC) looked like they were going to cruise to an easy victory after they rattled off 13 straight points to take a 13-1 lead in the opening game. MSU benefited from 10 Mavericks hitting errors in holding the Mavs to their lowest point total since scoring only 12 points against MSU on Oct. 15, 2005.
Not shaken by their first-game performance, UTA (16-6, 5-1 SLC) went toe-to-toe with MSU in the second game with neither team able to open up more than a three-point advantage. The Mavs were able to get a kill from Dani Johnson to set up game point at 29-27.
After a timeout, the Cowgirls score the next three points and had a game-point of their own. Torie Dacus would make sure UTA did not go down without a fight as she put a ball away to tie the game and Johnson set up another game-point with a kill. The game would end as Lindsay Brooks would hit the ball out to even the match.
MSU regained the momentum in the third game as they jumped out to an early lead and never let UTA get within four points in easing to the victory.
Game four looked like it would come down to the wire as both teams battled to a 15-15 tie. The Mavs would get a kill from Gina Kalb that sparked a 6-1 run to give UTA the advantage. Kalb would come calling again as she put away two more balls, including the game winner.
The Cowgirls would score the first point of the deciding game, but that would be the only lead they would enjoy. Kalb and Dacus would record kills to gain the lead and Kalb delivered a solo block to push the advantage to four.
MSU would not go away as they got two straight kills from Marquita Williams and Sarah Cartie to pull within one at 11-10. Teena Sobczak made sure they got no closer as she put away to straight balls to open an advantage and then ended the match with her third kill of the game.
To say the Mavs offense was balanced is an understatement. Kalb, Dacus, Johnson and Sobczak each paced the offense with 14 kills. Defensively, Smith led five players in double figures with 37 digs. She was joined by Sobczak's career-best 32 digs, Johnson's 31, Dacus' 23 and Emily Nedderman's 17. Middle blocker Ellen Murray recorded nine block assists.
Tiffany Baker paced the Cowgirls with 24 kills and Williams followed with 19. Chanel Tyler added 30 digs and Lindsay Brooks chipped in with 27.
The Mavs return to the court tomorrow evening as they take on Lamar at 7 p.m. at Texas Hall.
