Sept. 4, 2010
UTA-UTPA Photo Gallery
UT Arlington-UT Pan American Box Score 
Final Stats
ARLINGTON, Tex. - Alicia Shaffer's 23 digs led a stellar defensive effort, guiding UT Arlington to a 3-0 win over UT Pan American Saturday afternoon at Texas Hall.
The Mavericks held the Broncos to a -.008 hitting percentage and collected 65 total digs in their 25-11, 25-18, 25-13 victory.
"It was most definitely one of our best defensive matches," UTA coach Diane Seymour said. "You look at their hitting percentage and us digging over 20 balls per set. We just harped on it all week - about getting our defensive production up - and today it definitely showed."
The contest marked the first time since the 2005 season-opener against Prairie View A&M that UT Arlington held an opponent to a negative hitting percentage.
Bianca Sauls and Raegan Daniel had 14 and 11 digs, respectively, and true freshman Kendall Whitson added nine more.
Sauls also produced a match-high seven kills.
Seymour said the way her team has made the adjustments she stressed mid-week shows the Mavericks have grown as a group.
"It's a sign of our maturity and I think we're seeing right now that this is a group that has played together a lot over the last two years and you're starting to see it all come together where they dominate an opponent," Seymour said. "We haven't seen that in a while.
"We knew coming into this match that we should probably beat UT Pan American in three, but I didn't expect us to dominate as we did. It's a good sign because we are capable of that."
Offensively, Eld-hah Kaswatuka paced the Mavericks with 12 kills. Daniel added a season-high eight kills - one off her career high.
UT Arlington (3-3) took advantage of a strong service performance. Whitson led the way. The Mavericks won 13 points when she served, including eight in the first set.
"She's doing exactly what we anticipated. This is exactly why we brought her in here," Seymour said. "We think she's our future libero. We need to get her on the court as much as possible and we know that she's a very good place server."
Fellow true freshman Taylor Jacobs also earned her first career kill in the match.
Marci Logan led UT Pan American with six kills. Rita Gonzalez had 20 attacks for the Broncos (1-5).
UT Arlington plays Mississippi State at 7:30 p.m. for the UT Arlington Maverick Classic title. The Bulldogs are 1-0 so far in tournament play this weekend, with a game later this afternoon against Louisiana Tech. The Mavericks improved to 3-0 in the tournament.
