Nov. 4, 2006
Box Score
ARLINGTON, Texas - Junior right-side hitter Torie Dacus slammed down 17 kills and added 15 digs as UT Arlington said farewell to its fans at Texas Hall with a convincing 30-23, 30-28, 30-15 victory over Sam Houston State Saturday evening.
The victory improved the Mavericks to 22-8 overall and 11-3 in conference play. SHSU dropped to 10-15 overall and 5-10 in conference.
UTA got off to a usual slow start as they dropped four of the first five points before battling back to tie the score on the next five points. The two teams played even for the remainder of the game and were still tied late at 18-18.
A kill by Emily Nedderman would give the Mavs a lead they would not let up and spark the 12-5 run to end the game. Dacus led the charge with seven kills in the game.
SHSU looked like they had recovered in the second game and found themselves in good shape with a 24-20 lead. UTA would pull within one before a service error put the Bearkats up 28-25. After a ball-handling error pulled UTA to within two, Dacus served out the game with help from a pair of Dani Johnson kills and a block from Nedderman and Ellen Murray.
All the momentum carried into the third game as the Mavs scored the first seven points and quickly raced out to an 11-3 advantage. The Bearkats never found their way in the game and fell further behind before falling 30-15.
In her final home game of her career, Ashley Smith recorded 16 digs, handed out three assists and one service ace.
The Mavs close out the 2006 regular season as they travel to take on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Texas-San Antonio on Nov. 10-11. First serve in Corpus is set for 7 p.m., with a 4 p.m. start in San Antonio.
