Aug. 26, 2006
Box Score
NEWARK, Del. - The UT Arlington volleyball team shook off a slow start to battle their way back in the first two games and use the momentum to cruise through the third game to defeat Marist 30-26, 30-21, 30-16 in its second game at the 30th Annual Asics/Delaware Invitational Saturday morning.
"You train in two-a-days for the situation of playing in the morning because that doesn't normally happen in conference competition and you don't know what is going to happen until you get out here and play," said head coach Diane Seymour. "We were a little bit sluggish. I thought our bodies went well, but our minds didn't' go well. That's the good thing, if your bodies are going well and you are feeling good, you can battle through until your mind catches up that morning. It was a good sign to come back in game three and pretty good whooping on them, which we probably should have done earlier in that match."
UTA (2-0) scored the first two points of the match, but quickly found themselves trailing 6-4. The team battled back and got a kill from Dani Johnson and a block by Torie Dacus and Ellen Murray to open up a 13-10 advantage. That would be the largest advantage of the game for UTA as MC battled its way to a 25-24 advantage.
The Mavs would take over the game from there and end the game on a 6-1 run for the 30-26 victory. A pair of aces from Emily Nedderman and two kills from Dacus sparked the run.
The Red Foxes (0-2) jumped out quickly in the second game as they raced to a 5-1 lead before the Mavs responded to tie the game 11-11, forcing a MC timeout. Coming out of the timeout, the Mavs surged ahead and opened up a five-point cushion, forcing yet another timeout. UTA would get three straight kills from Johnson, Murray and Teena Sobczak to push the final margin to 30-21.
The momentum gained from the end of game two carried into game three as UTA jumped out to a 5-2 advantage and never looked back in the 30-16 victory. Sobczak led the charge with four early kills and Murray, Gina Kalb and Nedderman controlled the game at the net. Freshman Liz Curry saw her first action in the final game and responded with a kill on her first swing and another kill to end the match.
Dacus paced the Mavs attack with 13 kills, just two off her career high, and Sobczak added 11. Both players recorded double-doubles as Dacus added 10 digs and Sobczak 13. Ashley Smith led the defense with 19 digs and Murray had six block assists. Nedderman added 35 assists and five block assists to go along with five kills.
The Mavs close out the weekend against the host Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens at 6 p.m. CST.
