Sept. 4, 2009
Box Score
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - The UT Arlington volleyball team used comebacks in the first and second sets on their way to a three-set sweep over Georgia Southern on Friday evening at the Colorado State Hilton Classic at Moby Arena. UT Arlington improves to 2-3 overall after a 25-21, 26-24, 25-17, victory over the Eagles, who fall to 3-2 on the season.
"You never like seeing your team fall behind like that," UT Arlington head coach Diane Seymour said of the first two sets that Georgia Southern grabbed leads. "The good sign for us was not letting them run away with it and finding ways to comeback. I thought our performance showed a lot of character from our team."
After six ties started the first set, Georgia Southern grabbed a 15-8 lead. Then the Mavericks answered in a big way as they put away four kills, had four players combine for three block assists and benefited from eight Georgia Southern errors to take a 25-21 first-set victory.
The Mavs recorded seven total blocks in the first set and hit .154 (12 kills - 8 errors - 26 attacks) while holding the Eagles to a .000 hitting percentage (10 kills - 10 errors - 33 attacks). Setter Raegan Daniel led the way for the Mavs in the set with three kills on five attempts and had seven assists. Bianca Sauls also tallied three kills for UTA.
"We felt like our backs were up against the wall," Daniel said of the leads by the Eagles in the first and second sets. "We worked really hard and showed a lot of fight in coming back."
The second set was almost a carbon copy of the first. Neither team led by more than two points until Georgia Southern went up 11-8 forcing a UTA timeout. The Eagles then led by as many as nine points (20-11) before the Mavericks went on a 15-4 run to win the second set in come-from behind fashion.
The Mavericks tied the score at 23 and then saw the Eagles record a kill to take a 24-23 lead. The next Georgia Southern serve sailed out over the end line before Alicia Shaffer connected on back-to-back kills to win the set for UT Arlington.
Daniel and Sauls each notched two kills in the second set and Shaffer led the way with four digs. Georgia Southern aided the Mavericks with seven service errors and nine attack errors in the second set.
The third set wasn't near as dramatic as the Mavericks never trailed after a brief 2-1 lead by Georgia Southern. Sauls notched four kills in the set and Georgia Southern continued to struggle offensively with eight hitting errors.
Daniel paced the Mavs with six kills, a .545 hitting percentage, 20 assists and six digs. Kaswatuka had six kills and tallied two blocks while Sauls led the Mavericks with eight kills and eight digs.
"We all knew we could come back and win those first two sets," Kaswatuka said. "I've just been trying to get a lot of touches on the ball and try and help block and score points for the team."
The Mavericks will finish play at the Colorado State Hilton Classic on Saturday, Sept. 5, taking on host-school Colorado State (1 p.m. MT) and Ohio State (7 p.m. MT) at Moby Arena.
Match Notes:
The match marked the first-ever meeting between UT Arlington and Georgia Southern... The Mavericks are now 2-0 against Southern Conference opponents, also defeating College of Charleston in four sets at the Iowa Hawkeye Classic on Sept. 15, 2007... The Mavericks have now secured at least one victory in 11 straight road tournaments... The last time UT Arlington didn't come away with a victory in a road tournament was in 2005 going 0-4 in the Maryland Invitational in College Park, Mary... Sauls led the team in kills (8) for the third time this season... Entering the night, four different Mavericks had led the team in blocks during a single-match (Kaswatuka, Sauls, Driscoll, Daniel) and on Friday five different players tied for the team high with two each... UT Arlington held Georgia Southern to a .047 hitting percentage... In two wins this season, the Mavericks have allowed their opponents to hit a combined .028 (56 kills - 50 errors - 215 attacks).
