Nov. 17, 2006
Box Score
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - UT Arlington senior libero recorded 37 digs and became just the fourth player in NCAA Division I history with over 800 digs in a season as the Mavericks handed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi a 30-24, 30-26, 24-30, 30-25 defeat in the first round of the Southland Conference Tournament Friday afternoon at the Convocation Center in San Antonio.
Smith now has 814 digs on the season and established a new SLC single-season mark, passing the old record of 786 set by Sarah Gascon of Southeastern Louisiana. Smith also ranks second in the NCAA in total digs behind only Amanda McCormick of Ball State with 852.
UTA (24-9) did not play its sharpest volleyball to start the match and the two teams found themselves tied 19-19 just passed the midway point of the game. The Mavs were able to take the lead for good on an Emily Nedderman kill and then take advantage of five Islander hitting errors to set up game point. Ellen Murray would end the game with her fourth put-away of the game.
The Islanders (7-21) fell behind early before rattling off six straight points to take a 9-6 lead. The Mavs regrouped and regained the advantage on a pair of kills from Nedderman and another from Teena Sobczak.
The two teams would exchange the next handful of points and find themselves knotted 19-19. The Islanders would rattle off the next three points before Sobczak would tie the game back up with the next three swings.
With the score tied at 24, a TAMUCC error, followed by kills from Dani Johnson and Torie Dacus pushed the advantage to three. Game point was set up by a Johnson and Murray block and Johnson sent the teams into the locker room with another kill.
TAMUCC came out in the third game raced out to an early advantage. UTA battled back and took a 14-11 lead. The Islanders would take advantage of a Mavs hitting error to take the lead for good at 23-22. TAMUCC would continue to stretch their lead and take the game 30-24.
The Mavs dug deep in the fourth game and overcame a very scrappy Islander team to pull out the victory. With the match tied 23-23, Sobczak began a 4-0 run with a kill and then set up match point with her 20th kill of the match. Dacus and Michelle Schwartz ended the match with a stuff block.
Sobczak led the offensive charge with 20 kills and 23 digs. It was her second straight match with at least 20 kills. Two other players recorded double-doubles as Dacus recorded 13 kills and 12 digs and Johnson added 11 kills and 18 digs. Nedderman turned in an all-around match as she had eight kills and eight digs to go along with 51 assists.
The Mavs return to action tomorrow afternoon as they face third-seeded McNeese State in the semifinals. First serve is set for 2 p.m.
