Sept. 12, 2009

UT Arlington Invitational All-Tournament Team

Box Score

ARLINGTON, Texas - Tara Frantz recorded a career-high 16 kills and Raegan Daniel finished one kill away from a triple-double with 40 assists and a career-high 21 digs in UT Arlington's five-set loss to Oklahoma on Saturday night in front of 407 fans at Texas Hall.

The Sooners (7-2) won the UT Arlington Invitational with a 22-25, 25-14, 21-25, 25-23, 15-6 victory over the Mavericks (2-7) to finish with a perfect 2-0 record the tourney.

Oklahoma's Francie Ekwerekwu was named Tournament MVP while Frantz picked up her first career all-tournament team selection and Daniel grabbed all-tourney honors for the second straight week.

"It was an awesome job by both volleyball teams," UT Arlington head coach Diane Seymour said. "I thought it was a very well played match. There was a lot of emotion on both sides and both teams gave it great effort."

The Mavericks won the match's first set with a 25-22 victory behind seven kills on seven attempts from Frantz. All seven of Frantz' kills in the set came when the score was within two points. In fact, it was consecutive kills from Frantz that broke an 18-18 tie that gave the Mavs the lead for good in the first set.

"Tara came in this morning and provided a spark for us (against UALR) and that continued in this match against Oklahoma," Seymour said. "She produced kills for us, she had 16. That was a very good performance by Tara."

Frantz led the Mavericks with 25 kills, 3.12 kills per set and a .295 hitting percentage in two matches in the UT Arlington Invitational.

"I really feed off of my teammates, it isn't just me providing a spark," Frantz said. "I want to prove to my team that I have confidence and that I can do this."

After falling hard 25-14 in the second frame, the Mavs bounced back with a 25-21 victory in the third set.

The Sooners jumped ahead 12-10 in the third set but then the momentum shifted back to the Mavericks as UT Arlington went on a 12-3 run to take their largest lead in the set, 22-15. The Mavs' run defined the match as four players recorded a kill in the run that helped lead UTA to a 2-1 lead in the match.

Six Mavericks finished with at least seven kills, led by Frantz (16) and sophomore Alicia Shaffer (11).

"What a turnaround it was for our team from this morning to this afternoon," Seymour said of her team's effort after a four-set loss to UALR this morning. "I think it is a very good sign and a very big step for our team's confidence."

The Mavericks weren't able to put away the Sooners, who received votes in last week's AVCA Coaches Top 25 poll, as Oklahoma tallied 26 kills in the final two sets to win the match.

Shaffer recorded her first career double-double (11 kills, 17 digs) and Teena Sobczak (19 digs) and Bianca Sauls (16 digs) were two of four Mavs with a double-figure dig totals.

"I've been put in the outside hitter position because of Amanda's injury," Shaffer said. "I've really just tried to listen to my teammates and if they tell me to do something I do it to the best of my ability."

Daniel collected her second straight all-tournament team selection after averaging 8.0 assists, 3.89 digs and 1.56 kills per set in nine sets played in the tournament. Daniel finished the first set with a double-double (11 assists, 10 digs) while notching her fourth of the season and second double-double of the day.

"I was just trying to go as hard as I could on defense for every ball," Daniel said. "We weren't playing not to lose tonight, we were definitely playing to win. That is the best we have played as a team in the past two years."

The Mavericks continue their seven-match homestand while hosting the UT Arlington Hilton Invitational next weekend where they will take on Arkansas State (Sept. 18), Texas Southern (Sept. 19) and TCU (Sept. 19) at Texas Hall.

MATCH NOTES:
UT Arlington falls to 26-13 all-time against Oklahoma with a 13-5 record in Arlington... The Mavericks drop to 126-95-1 all-time against teams from the Big 12 Conference... Last season UT Arlington defeated Texas Tech in the first set of a four-set loss... The last victory for UT Arlington against a Big 12 opponent was verses Baylor (23-30, 31-29, 23-30, 30-28, 17-15) on at Texas Hall in the Mavericks season-opener and head coach Diane Seymour's first match as head coach of UTA on Sept. 1, 2004... Raegan Daniel became the first Maverick this season to have a double-double (11 assists, 10 digs) after the first set in a match... Daniel's 21 digs are a career-high and the most by any Maverick this season... UT Arlington set season-highs in kills (59), attempts (194), assists (52), digs (86) and blocks (8.0)... Teena Sobczak now has 50 career matches with a double-figure digs total.

UT Arlington Tournament Action:
Oklahoma defeated UALR in three sets (26-16, 25-13, 26-24) behind 46 kills and 11 team blocks. Arlington native Francie Ekwerekwu led all players with 11 kills and Suzy Boulavsky tallied nine kills with a match-high .562 hitting percentage. UALR setter Giuliana De Francesco guided the Trojans with a double-double (21 assists, 11 digs) and Becky Mann had a team-high eight kills