Nov. 1, 2006
Box Score
ARLINGTON, Texas - The UT Arlington volleyball team put together one of its best matches of the season for 90-percent of the time. The problem is they were facing Stephen F. Austin and their 47-match Southland Conference win streak. The end result, the Mavs dropped a hard-fought 28-30, 23-30, 25-30 decision Wednesday evening at Texas Hall.
SFA (24-3, 13-0 SLC) jumped on the Mavs early and opened a 6-3 advantage. Behind a rowdy Texas Hall crowd, UTA climbed right back into the match and pulled within one on a Dani Johnson kill. The Ladyjacks would again pull away and force a UTA timeout after opening a 25-21 lead.
The Mavs responded out of the break as kills from Johnson and Torie Dacus, coupled with a pair of SFA hitting errors, tied the score 26-26. The score would again be tied four points later before SFA got a long-rally kill from Traci Rohde to set up game point and then get another from Rohde to end the game.
UTA (21-8, 10-3 SLC) seemed more energized in the second game and opened up a 20-16 advantage on a Gina Kalb kill. A block from Lauren Railey and Kelsie Heppler would serve as the beginning of the end for UTA in game two as the Ladyjacks went on a 14-3 run to close out the game.
The third game was just as the others as the two teams battled it out to a 15-15 tie. SFA would pull ahead by seven, but the Mavs had one last run in them as a pair of Ellen Murray kills sparked a 5-0 run to pull within 26-24. A pair of UTA hitting errors and the 18th kill of the match from Rohde ended the match.
The Mavs had four players record double-doubles with Dacus leading the way with 15 kills and 14 digs. Johnson added 13 kills and 14 digs, Teena Sobczak 10 kills and 13 digs and Emily Nedderman 44 assists and 14 digs.
Libero Ashley Smith continues to set new marks in the record books as she recorded 22 digs to become just the second player in SLC history to record 700 digs in a season.
The Mavs return to action Saturday afternoon as they close out the 2006 home season against Sam Houston State. First serve is set for 4 p.m.
