Sept. 26, 2008
Box Score
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - UTSA won its sixth straight match with a four-set victory over UT Arlington on Friday night in both teams' Southland Conference opener in San Antonio at the Convocation Center. The Roadrunners (7-6, 1-0) had two players with a match-high 17 kills on their way to a 25-10, 25-22, 28-30, 25-17, victory over the Mavericks (4-11, 0-1). Freshman Emily Shearin recorded a season-high nine kills while freshman Amanda Aguilera also helped lead the Mavs with nine kills.
"Emily is doing a good job filling in," UT Arlington head coach Diane Seymour said. "We have put her over there in Bianca's spot, and she's doing an extremely good job for us. We need to look at getting a few more balls her way because she is picking up some offensive numbers, which is a pleasant surprise."
UTSA was led by sophomore Kendra Rowland and freshmen Elise Huskey, who each had 17 kills. Shearin posted a .667 hitting percentage (9 kills-1 error-12 attacks), which led all players and is the highest hitting percentage for a Mavericks player in a single match this season. Freshman Lauren Carpenter equaled a season-high with 13 digs, and freshman libero Alicia Shaffer also notched 13 digs in the loss.
Seymour knows tomorrow's match against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is a must-win-match, even though it is early in the conference season.
"We have to bounce back and get a win," Seymour said. "If you walk away from the first weekend down 0-2 against probably a team we are ranked ahead of (tomorrow), it could be a struggle the rest of the way."
The Roadrunners opened the contest with a dominating 25-10 victory. Five of the Mavericks' 10 first-set points came off UTSA errors, along with kills from senior Michelle Schwartz, Aguilera and Shearin, and an ace from Schwartz and a block assist from Shearin and freshman Christy Driscoll.
UT Arlington struggled offensively with eight hitting errors and a -.172 hitting percentage in the first set. Huskey got UTSA rolling in the first set with four kills as the Roadrunners had little trouble with their offense hitting for a .481 clip (15 kills-2 errrors-27 attacks) in the opening set.
After a UTSA serving error and a block assist from sophomore Raegan Daniel and Driscoll, the Mavericks cut the Roadrunner's second-set lead to 5-6. UTSA then caught fire going on a 5-0 run to take an 11-5 lead.
The Mavericks later forced a UTSA timeout going on a 4-1 run with kills from Driscoll and freshman Tara Frantz, along with a kill and solo block from Shearin to trail UTSA 17-20. The Mavericks forced another UTSA timeout with three straight points coming from a block assist (Shearin, Schwartz), a kill from Driscoll and an ace from Schwartz to come within a point, 21-22.
The Roadrunners took the second set with a kill and two straight UT Arlington hitting errors to move ahead 2-0 in the match. Driscoll notched three kills in the second set while Schwartz posted her second ace of the match.
The Mavericks posted a third-set victory after trailing 8-3 early in the set. The Mavericks went on a 15-7 run midway through the set to grab their first lead in the match. The third set had 10 ties and seven lead changes with the Mavericks claiming the victory, 30-28. UT Arlington took the third set after Aguilera landed her fifth kill in the match and with a block assist from Aguilera and Driscoll.
The lead went back-and-forth in the fourth set with neither team leading by more than two points until UTSA recorded back-to-back kills in front of a UT Arlington hitting error that gave the Roadrunners a 16-13 lead, forcing a Mavericks timeout.
UTSA kept their momentum while closing out the match with a 25-17 victory in the fourth set. The Mavs' last lead came with an 11-10 advantage, before UTSA finished the match on a 15-6 run.
The Mavericks' road trip will conclude with a 4 p.m. matchup on Saturday, Sept. 27, against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in Moody Fieldhouse in Corpus Christi. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (2-8) opened its SLC schedule on Friday night hosting Texas State.
MATCH NOTES:
UT Arlington drops to 25-10 all time against UTSA, with an 8-9 record at the Convocation Center in San Antonio... UTSA finished the match hitting .205, compared UT Arlington's .058 hitting percentage... The Mavericks are 0-11 this season when their opponents hits for a higher percentage... The Mavericks 154 total attempts was the most in a single-match this season... earlier this season the Mavs had 140 attempts against North Texas and 139 against TCU, which were both five-set matches... UT Arlington's 60 digs also marked a season high... The Mavs previous season high was 55 versus TCU in five sets... UTSA's 78 digs is the most by any UT Arlington opponent this season... UTSA sophomore Kendra Rowland, who currently leads the SLC in kills per set, tallied 50 attempts against the Mavs, marking the most by an opposing player this season.
