University of Texas Arlington
Seton Hall
Freshman Leads Balanced Attack in Season Opening Sweep
8/25/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 25, 2006
Newark, Del. - Freshman Teena Sobczak recorded 10 kills, including the final kill of the match, and had zero errors in 29 swings as the UT Arlington volleyball team started the 2006 season in sweeping fashion as they disposed of Seton Hall 30-25, 30-22, 31-29 in the opener of the 30th Annual Asics/Delaware Invitational. The victory is the third straight for the Mavericks dating back to last season and is the ninth-straight season-opening victory.
Sobczak was not the only player with a solid offensive performance as Dani Johnson recorded eight kills and Gina Kalb and Torie Dacus each added seven. As a team, the Mavs had 43 kills and only nine errors on 129 swings for a .264 hitting percentage.
The Mavs (1-0) showed a little bit of everything in the opener as they got off to quick start and never looked back in the opening game, battle their way through a tight early game in the second game and battled their way from behind in the clinching game.
"You can tell they were very excited to get the season started," said third-year head coach Diane Seymour. "The first game we got off to a lead and never lost it. The second game they showed us something we hadn't seen out of them any time last year is that when the other team took a two-point advantage, we never let them get away. The best thing is to see the kids get off to a 3-0 sweep and see them win a game with confidence, see them go neck-and-neck in a game and win it and then see them come back in the third game and win it. We got something for our season that we needed out of the preseason match."
The Mavs got out of the gates quickly as senior Ashley Smith used her jump serve to help the Mavs score the first five points of the match. A couple of errors by the Pirates, along with kills from Ellen Murray and Dacus and a block from Murray and Emily Nedderman helped UTA forge to the lead. SHU would battle back and close the gap to 10-7, but UTA would score the next five points to push the advantage to 15-7.
A balanced offensive attack thwarted any possible comeback from the Pirates. SHU would get as close four points late in the game before a block by Murray and Nedderman ended game one, 30-25.
UTA jumped out again in the second game, but the Pirates quickly responded and tied the game 6-6 on a kill by Arlington Martin grad Melissa Bellomy. UTA would forge back into the lead and go on a 10-5 run to push the advantage to 21-15. SHU would score the next points, but the Mavs got a kill from Johnson and an error from SHU to push the lead back to six. With the lead trimmed down to three, a pair of kills from Nedderman set up game point and Murray put the game away with a solo block.
The Mavs fell behind early in the third game, but kept their focus and were able to stay within two points the entire game before taking a 21-20 advantage on a block by Sobczak and Kalb.
The Pirates tied the game right back before UTA would score the next four points to take an advantage they would never give up. SHU saved off one match point with a kill by Colleyville Heritage grad Jennifer Procuniar. The Mavs would benefit from a service error and Sobczak would put the match away with a kill.
Defensively, Ashley Smith recorded a match-high 25 kills and Murray recorded six block assists and one solo block. Nedderman added 29 assists.
The Mavs return to action tomorrow afternoon as they take on Marist at 10 a.m. CST. The team will return to action later that evening as they face Delaware at 6 p.m.
