Nov. 14, 2009
Box Score
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - UT Arlington closed the regular season with a 22-25, 18-25, 19-25 loss at UTSA on Saturday afternoon at the Convocation Center in San Antonio. The Mavericks enter the postseason as the No. 5 seed in the upcoming Southland Conference Tournament (Nov. 20-22 - San Antonio, Texas) and will play the second match on Friday, Nov. 20, at 1:30 p.m. against Lamar (14-13, 9-7 SLC), who is the tournament's No. 4 seed.
UT Arlington closes the regular season with a 12-16 overall record and 8-8 record in SLC play. UTSA (12-18, 7-9) will be the host school for the upcoming league tournament while entering the postseason winning three of its last five matches.
"I was a little disappointed in our play today," UT Arlington head coach Diane Seymour said. "I felt like today was the first time we really missed Teena (Sobczak) since she went down a week ago (with an injury). We were just really inconsistent. We never got off to a good start. When you are playing chase the whole time things usually don't go your way."
Amanda Aguilera led UTA with 11 kills and finished with six digs, Tara Frantz notched 10 kills and two digs while Bianca Sauls led the Mavericks with 13 digs. Raegan Daniel collected 18 assists and just missed a double-double with nine digs while Shaffer joined Sauls in double-figure digs with 11.
Four Maverick errors and eight Roadrunner kills led to UTSA grabbing a 12-7 lead in the early going during the opening set to force Seymour into calling the match's first timeout. UT Arlington later trailed by eight (10-18), but answered going on a 10-3 run to cut UTSA's lead to a point, 20-21.
The Mavs couldn't complete the first-set comeback as the Roadrunners finished the set on a 4-2 run with three kills and an ace to win the set 25-22. UTA never held a lead in the set.
Frantz tallied five kills and Aguilera notched three kills in the opening set. Shearin had two kills and an ace for the Mavericks.
UTSA jumped ahead in the second frame and never looked back. The Roadrunners grabbed leads of 10-3, 14-7 and then extended their lead following a 6-0 run to take a 22-10 advantage.
The Mavericks tried to rally late going on an 8-2 run before the Roadrunners won the set, 25-18. Frantz posted her eighth kill of the match and then a bad set by UTSA made the score 16-24. Shaffer added back-to-back service aces to make the score 18-24 before a UTSA kill gave the Roadrunners a 2-0 lead in the match going into intermission. Frantz totaled three kills in the set while Aguilera added a pair.
The Mavericks took their first lead in the match early in the third set with a 6-2 lead. That is when Amber Brooks toed the service line and led UTSA to a 9-0 run with three kills, three aces and with three UTA errors to regain the lead, 11-6.
"We got off to a good start in the third set which set the tempo for us," Seymour said. "We were playing a little sharper than we had in the first two sets and then Amber Brooks stepped back there to serve and we didn't handle that very well."
UTA came within two points at 11-9 but never led again as UTSA closed out the match with a 25-19 third-set victory.
MATCH NOTES:
UT Arlington drops to 26-12 all-time against UTSA with an 8-10 record in matched played in San Antonio, Texas... Mavericks are 1-6 during their last seven matches against UTSA at the Convocation Center dating back to 2003... the last time UTA lost to the Roadrunners in three sets was in San Antonio on Nov. 9, 2004.
Mavericks finish sixth in the Southland Conference, but claim the No. 5 seed in the upcoming SLC Tournament since Central Arkansas will miss the tournament postseason due to their final season of the NCAA Division I transition period.
It is the eighth time the Mavericks have recorded at least a .500 winning percentage (8-8 SLC record) since 2000... UT Arlington's eight conference wins are the fourth most during head coach Diane Seymour's head coaching tenure.
UTA has qualified for the Southland Conference Tournament 26 times in 28 years of competing in the SLC Tournament... The only seasons the Mavericks have not qualified for the tournament was in 2005 and 2008.
Amanda Aguilera led the team in kills for the fourth straight match and for the sixth time this season... Aguilera has at least 10 kills (13 vs. UTSA) in four straight matches and in seven total matches this season.
Bianca Sauls led the team in digs (13) for the first time since recording 15 against Nicholls (10/24) and has been the team leader in digs six times this campaign.
Alicia Shaffer recorded two aces to lead the Mavs against UTSA, which equals a career-high she has accomplished three times and marks her most this season... Shaffer's previous season-high was one, which she did in 12 matches this season... It is the first time a Maverick has tallied more than one ace in a match since Emily Shearin led UTA with three against Southeastern Louisiana (10/22).
Emily Shearin led UTA with two blocks, which makes her the team leader in four of the last six matches and eight of the last 11 matches overall.
Raegan Daniel led UTA with 18 assists, which is her fourth lowest total of the season... Daniel's three assist totals lower than 18 all came in three-set losses, including 14 against Ohio State (9/5), 13 against Arkansas (9/1) and a season-low 12 against Colorado State (9/5)... Daniel's previous low during conference play was 21 in a three-set victory over Southeastern Louisiana (10/22).
