Nov. 22, 2013
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Final Stats
By Taylor Wright | UTAMavs.com
TROY, Alabama - UT Arlington defeated Sun Belt Conference Volleyball Championship host Troy on Friday night. The Mavericks improved to 19-14 overall with the win.
Senior Charmaine Whitmore earned her fourth double-double of the season with a team-high 13 kills and 12 blocks assists. Whitmore now holds the first slot for block assists in a single season in the UT Arlington record book with 201.
Junior Taylor Gross was solid in the offensive effort with 13 kills to tie Whitmore with the team-high on the night. Shelby Dickson also had a double-double, her 14th of the season, with 11 kills and 12 digs. Junior setter Amanda Welsh paced the Maverick offense with 28 assists while senior defensive specialist Megan Casey led the defense with 16 digs. Casey also recorded the only ace in the match.
The Trojans jumped out to an early 5-3 lead but the Mavericks would tie things up at 5-5 with a combination block from Ashley Bennett and Stacey Koch. Unforced UTA errors gave Troy a five-point run in the middle of the first set, 15-10. After back-to-back Troy aces, UT Arlington called a timeout trailing 20-14. The Mavs battled to gain ground on the Trojans but dropped the first set, 25-21.
UT Arlington took no time in earning a quick 7-5 lead to start the second set. The Trojans responded to tie things up at 14-14 before the Mavs went on a four-point run, 18-14. Troy fought back but UTA would tie up the match at 1-1 with a 25-21 win in the second set.
Set three began with a back-and-forth battle for control with both teams exchanging points and leads. The Mavericks gained some momentum behind the serve of Cassidy Wheeler and UTA took a five-point lead, 9-4. UT Arlington continued to roll and won the third set in dominating fashion, 25-15.
Troy opened up the fourth set with some fight and took an early 13-8 lead. Maverick errors extended the Trojan lead to five, 17-12. UT Arlington would be forced to call a timeout with its largest deficit of the night, 20-13. Troy took the fourth set, 25-18, to force a fifth set.
The Mavericks quickly took a 4-1 lead early on in the final set of the match. Troy took no time to battle back to a 7-7 tie. A Trojan ace would put UTA down two, 10-8. The Mavs flipped the fifth set around behind the block of Whitmore to take a 12-10 lead. Troy would reach match point first and force a Maverick timeout, 14-13. Troy fought off multiple match points but UT Arlington won, 22-20.
UT Arlington will face Texas State on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Sun Belt Conference Volleyball Championship match on ESPN 3. The Mavericks last competed in a conference final in 2006 as they fell in straight sets to Stephen F. Austin for the Southland tournament crown.
