Oct. 6, 2006
Box Score
ARLINGTON, Texas - The slow starts continued for the UT Arlington volleyball team as the Mavs dropped the opening game before bouncing back to defeat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 26-30, 32-30, 30-20, 30-20 Friday evening at Texas Hall.
The Islanders (1-14, 0-5 SLC) came out quickly and opened up an 8-3 advantage before the crowd could even get settled. The lead would grow to as many as 10 points before the Mavs went on a 15-6 run to pull within one at 23-24. TAMUCC would not let the Mavs tie the match as they scored the final three points of the game to take the opener.
The second game started pretty much the same as the Islanders jumped out to a 14-9 advantage. Once again UTA was forced to battle back and this time took the lead at 20-18 on a pair of Islander hitting errors. UTA would push the lead to three on a Dani Johnson service ace and Emily Nedderman set up game point with a kill. Trailing 29-26, TAMUCC scored the next four points to set up their own game point. Torie Dacus followed up an Islander hitting error with a kill of her own and Lyn Elsberry's ball sailed long, the match was even at one.
UTA (14-6, 3-1 SLC) did their customary strong charge out of the locker room and opened a 15-9 lead. The Islanders remained pesky and would not led the lead grow until Dacus and Gina Kalb combined on a block to push the advantage to 23-15. UTA would roll from there and take the game.
The fourth game was just the same as the third as the Mavericks never trailed and won their second straight game by double digits.
Freshman Liz Curry came off the bench to provide the spark for the offense with 12 kills and 16 digs for her first career double-double. She was joined in that department by Dacus with 15 kills and 20 digs, Johnson 17 kills and 19 digs and Nedderman 41 assists and 12 digs. Kalb led the charge at the net with eight of the team's 24 block assists.
The Islanders were led by Christie Feliz' 18 kills and Laura North's 32 digs.
UTA returns to action tomorrow afternoon as they host Texas-San Antonio in a key Southland Conference matchup at 2 p.m. at Texas Hall.
