Sept. 3, 2008
Box Score | Photo Gallery 
DALLAS, Texas - Bianca Sauls and Tara Frantz combined for 23 kills, but it wasn't enough as the SMU Mustangs defeated UT Arlington 25-18, 25-21, 25-22, in its home opener on Wednesday night at Moody Coliseum. SMU didn't disappoint the home fans in attendance with an impressive offensive outing that included 50 kills in the win over the Mavericks. UT Arlington falls to 2-2 overall and SMU improves to 3-1 on the season.
Sauls recorded a team-high 12 kills and led all players with a .571 hitting percentage (12 kills-0 errors-21 attempts).
The first set featured 12 ties and six lead changes as the Mavericks and Mustangs were knotted up at 18. The final eight points belonged to SMU as the Mustangs recorded three kills, two aces and two blocks with one error coming from UT Arlington to win the first set 25-18.
The Mavericks equaled their eight kills with eight hitting errors for a .000 hitting percentage in the first set, while SMU was led by Dana Powell's four kills in the opening frame. Sauls and Frantz each tallied three kills for the Mavs in the first set.
Sauls notched her second kill in the second set before SMU went on a 4-0 run to take a 15-9 lead. Sauls, Frantz and freshman Amanda Aguilera tried to keep UT Arlington close as they combined for 11 kills and two blocks in the set. SMU's offense earned the second-set victory with 20 kills. The Mustangs hit .265 to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
The third set was once again back and forth until the SMU offense rattled off five kills and UT Arlington committed back-to-back errors to give the Mustangs a 19-16 lead, forcing a UT Arlington timeout.
UT Arlington closed the gap to 22-23, on a Frantz kill, but the Mustangs closed out the victory on a UT Arlington hitting error.
Frantz finished with a season-high 11 kills. Freshman libero Alicia Shaffer posted a season-high 15 digs and sophomore setter Raegan Daniel led the Mavs with 23 assists.
The Mavericks will have a short turnaround as they travel to San Francisco on Thursday afternoon. UT Arlington will begin play at the University of San Francisco Asics/Powerade Challenge on Friday, Sept. 5, taking on Utah State at 4:30 p.m. The Mavs will finish tournament action on Saturday, Sept. 6, playing San Francisco at 11 a.m. and taking on UC-Santa Barbara at 5 p.m.
MATCH NOTES:
UT Arlington drops to 9-5 all time against SMU, including a 2-4 record in Dallas... SMU has now won two straight matches against the Mavericks... UT Arlington is now 45-40 all time against Conference USA opponents.
