Oct. 6, 2007
UT Arlington rebounded from their first conference loss of the season with a convincing 3-1 win over Sam Houston State in Southland Conference women's volleyball play at Texas Hall Saturday afternoon.
UT Arlington (11-7, 4-1) won for the sixth time in seven matches. Sam Houston State falls to 9-8 and 3-2.
UT Arlington needed all the grit they could muster to shake off a pesky Sam Houston State club. The Mavs, who won games 1 and 2 by scores of 30-24 and 30-20, led by as many as 10 points (24-14) in Game 4 before the Bearkats clawed their way back into the game. A 9-4 run by SHSU cut the lead to 28-25 but an shot wide by Launa McClung gave the Mavs' a 29-25 lead. Senior Ellen Murray ended the match with a kill at the net.
"We have a veteran ball club and I thought we just didn't come ready to play (today)," said UT Arlington Head Volleyball Coach Diane Seymour. "I was extremely disappointed in the way we came out to play. We snapped out of it just in time to put them away. I thought we might be a little sluggish in Game 1 after a tough week with matches against Texas State and Stephen F Austin and being forced out of Texas Hall for the Rhiana concert, but I'm not going to sugar coat it, I'm highly disappointed."
The Mavs hit a sparkling .354 attack percentage in game behind four kills from freshman outside hitter Bianca Sauls, who was making her first conference start. She finished the match tying her career high with 16 kills and a personal-best 19 kills.
Seniors Torie Dacus and Murray added 12 kills each and sophomore outside hitter Teena Sobczak had 11 kills. Dacus and senior Dani Johnson both tied with a team-high 20 digs.
The Mavericks jumped out to 16-9 lead in the Game two and never looked back in a 30-20 victory.
But Sam Houston State came alive after intermission and rallied from a 4-1 deficit early in the game to take the game 30-26.
Sam Houston was led by senior Cynthia Yarotsky with 17 kills and 23 digs. The Bearkats playing with six freshman on the squad, had two freshmen Brittanie Wallace and McClung, account from 15 and 10 kills, respectively.
UT Arlington will return to action Friday when they travel to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for a 7 p.m. match.
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