Nov. 10, 2007
Box Score
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - The UT Arlington Mavericks gained momentum into next weekend's Southland Conference Volleyball Tournament as the Mavs upended a feisty Sam Houston State squad 3-2 (30-28, 26-30, 30-18, 27-30, 15-12) in the final regular season match both teams Saturday afternoon.
UT Arlington (19-10, 12-4) will enter the postseason tournament as the third-seed and will open the tournament Friday at 11 a.m. against the sixth-seed at the Convocation Center on the campus of UTSA. Sam Houston State (11-18, 5-11) dropped its seventh straight match and 11 in 13 tries and will enter the tournament as the seventh seed and will play either Lamar or Stephen F. Austin at 1:30 p.m.
Freshman Bianca Sauls tallied the most kills by a Mavericks this season with 25 kills and 15 digs. Senior Torie Dacus had 17 kills and a career high 30 digs. Senior Emily Nedderman was one off her career high with 63 assists and added a career best 22 digs. Senior Dani Johnson also had a season-best 36 digs.
"A five-game match is always a test and we passed that test today," said UT Arlington Head Volleyball Coach Diane Seymour. "(Sam Houston State) made us earn it. We had a lot of digs tonight, both teams did. The win will definitely give us some momentum going into the conference tournament and we can use tonight to make us better."
UT Arlington took control of game five early and never trailed en route to the win. Sauls had four kills early in the game to give UTA a 6-4 lead. The lead swelled to 14-8 after an attack error by Cynthia Yarotsky. Sam Houston State rallied with four straight points before Dacus put the game away with a kill.
UTA came out of intermission on fire winning game three, 30-18. The Mavs made just one attack error in the game and hit a match-best .385.
Game four, however, was a nip-and-tuck battle. Tied 24-24, Sam Houston took the lead for good with an attack error by Sauls. Yarotsky made the final two kills for the Bearkats to force the fifth game.
UT Arlington reeled off 11 straight points for a 12-3 lead in game two, but Sam Houston State, playing with six freshmen, refused to go away and battled back to take a 20-18 lead after a kill by setter Megan McNamara. The lead swelled to 22-18 after a kill by Brittanie Wallace to cap off seven straight points.
In game one, the play see-sawed as neither team led by more than three points early. Sam Houston State took a 24-20 after four straight points. A block by McNamara and Katie Phillips made it 24-20. But UTA's Torie Dacus took control of the game, scoring three straight kills, the last to cut the lead to 26-24. A block by Sauls and Ellen Murray and a kill by Murray tied the game at 26-26 and forced Sam Houston State to take a time out. After both teams traded points and the game tied at 28-28, Liz Curry slammed home a winner and Gina Kalb and Nedderman threw up a wall at the net to win the point and the game, 30-28.
MATCH NOTES: With Saturday's win, UTA needs an opening round win to claim their 24th 20-win season in the program's history dating back to 1973... UTA leads the all-time series with SHSU 45-14... UTA ends the season 7-6 in away matches....
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