Nov. 13, 2009
Box Score
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - UT Arlington put an end to its road struggles while winning its third straight match with a three-set sweep over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Thursday at Dugan Wellness Center in Corpus Christi. The Mavericks' 25-23, 25-20, 26-24 victory guarantees them of the No. 5 seed in the upcoming Southland Conference Tournament while notching their first road win of the season.
UTA improves to 12-15 overall and to 8-7 in the SLC while Texas A&M-Corpus Christi falls to 9-21 overall and to 2-13 in the SLC.
"It was great to get the monkey off our back getting the road win," UT Arlington head coach Diane Seymour said. "We felt like this was going to be the weekend where we would get that win, and we were able to accomplish that. Our team played really well and I thought Corpus Christi fought hard as well."
Amanda Aguilera had a team-high 13 kills and a .346 hitting percentage with seven digs, Bianca Sauls just missed a triple-double with nine kills, nine assists and eight digs while Emily Shearin had eight kills and a team-high five blocks. Alicia Shaffer led all players with 17 digs and Raegan Daniel notched a match-high 31 assists and six digs.
The Mavericks came from behind in the first set to win 25-23, despite playing from behind until taking a 23-22 lead on a Tara Frantz kill. Frantz and Aguilera each led the Mavs with four kills apiece in the set.
Aguilera sparked the Mavs with a team-high five kills in the second set while the Mavericks used 11 Islander errors and 13 kills to take a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-20 victory. Three straight A&M-Corpus Christi errors started the frame and then UTA made it 6-2 after receiving kills from Aguilera, Frantz and Sauls. The Islanders cut UTA's lead to a point (12-11), but a 5-1 run - which included four straight Islander errors - helped build another cushion for the Mavericks.
Shaffer went into intermission with 12 digs and Sauls collected five kills and six digs after two sets of play.
The Mavericks trailed for most of the third and final set before calling a timeout after falling behind by four points (17-21) late in the frame. UT Arlington answered going on a 9-3 run, highlighted by a pair of kills from Daniel, a kill from Shearin and a kill and ace from Aguilera. The Mavericks capped the match with a 26-24 third-set win after Aguilera's final kill hit the floor.
"I was pleased to see us take that first set when the game was so close. I was pleased to see us keep that five-point lead in the second set, and I was even more pleased to see us come back in the third set and win that to get the sweep."
UT Arlington will conclude its regular season with a 3:30 p.m. first serve on Saturday, Nov. 14, at UTSA in San Antonio at the Convocation Center, the host site for the upcoming SLC Tournament (Nov. 20-22).
MATCH NOTES:
UT Arlington improves to 10-1 all-time against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi with a 3-1 record in matches played in Corpus Christi, Texas... Mavericks swept the season series, which includes a five-set victory in Arlington (9/26/09)... Three-match winning streak is the longest for UT Arlington this season.
