Oct. 30, 2010
Box Score 
Final Stats
HUNTSVILLE, Tex. - Bianca Sauls hit .500 with 12 kills and produced nine digs and four aces, leading UT Arlington past Sam Houston State 3-1 Saturday afternoon at Johnson Coliseum.
Sauls, along with Tara Frantz and Amanda Aguilera finished with double-figure kill totals. Those three strong offensive performances helped the Mavs to a 22-25, 25-19, 28-26, 25-21 victory.
"Bianca had an exceptional match," UTA coach Diane Seymour said. "It's good to see her play on such a high level offensively. It's pleasant to see her get to double digit kills, but to have so few hitting errors is great for Bianca. She was also all over the place on defense and her serving was exceptional today."
The Bearkats won the first set, but the Mavericks (12-14, 6-6) bounced back to win the last three - including a 28-26 battle in Game 3.
In Game 2, the Mavs won 10 of 11 points to pull away for a comfortable win. Game 3 went back and forth the entire way, but UTA did enough at the end to capture the pivotal set before coasting to the Game 4 win.
"We were pretty good all the way around," Seymour said. "That was a good sign. I think the biggest thing is when the games got close we were able to remain pretty calm and confident."
Christy Driscoll led the Mavs defensively with nine blocks. Aguilera added a career-high six blocks as well. The Mavs finished with 14 total digs in the four-set match.
"It was really good to see Christy block that many balls," Seymour said. "The one that's big to me is that Amanda was huge for us on that back antenna."
When Sam Houston State did manage to hit the ball past UTA's blockers, libero Alicia Shaffer was ready with another strong effort. The conference's leader in digs in league matches finished with 25 digs. Kendall Whitson also added 12 digs.
Frantz finished with 13 kills and set a career high with six digs.
Aguilera notched a double-double with 17 kills and 16 digs.
"I thought Amanda and Tara played well against Sam Houston last time but really played well this time," Seymour said. "Their hitting percentage was good in addition to their kill totals."
Raegan Daniel finished the match with 42 assists. Emily Shearin contributed five kills and four blocks.
UT Arlington finished its SLC road slate with a 5-3 record and is now tied for third in the SLC West with the Bearkats (12-15, 6-6). The Mavs are also tied for fifth in the SLC Tournament race.
Carli Kolbe finished with 18 kills and 16 digs as Sam Houston State's top performer.
Now the Mavericks return home after a winning road trip. They end the regular season with a four-match homestand that starts Thursday when UTA hosts Southeastern Louisiana at Texas Hall at 7 p.m.
"You have to look back at it and see we went 3-1 in a two-week stint in matches on the road," Seymour said. "That's a huge improvement for us. We will be very confident at home coming back for the last four matches."
