Oct. 24, 2014
Final Stats
By Paul Watley | UTAMavs.com
ARLINGTON, Texas - UT Arlington picked up its 10th straight home win on Friday night at College Park Center as the Mavericks took down Georgia Southern in four sets (25-22, 25-23, 19-25, 25-18) in front of a crowd of 755.
"It's one of those clichés that you hear in sports that sometimes good teams can win when they don't play their best," UT Arlington coach Diane Seymour said. "Hopefully that's a good sign for us that we don't always have to play our best volleyball to be able to pull out a victory and maybe we've turned the corner and we've realized we are a good team."
The Mavs improve to 19-5 this season and 9-3 in conference play, while the Eagles fall to 6-16 overall and 5-7 in the Sun Belt.
Qiana Canete recorded her 16th double-double of the season as she registered 17 kills and 11 digs to go with four blocks in the four-set win.
"I was really focusing on hitting over the smaller blocker and listening to Diane and hitting into the pie where she was telling me to hit," Canete said.
Stacey Koch also chipped in as she notched eight kills while hitting .200. Briana Sharratt made her impact known as the sophomore MB recorded eight blocks and six kills in the match. Caitlyn Cooney led the defensive efforts as the junior libero recorded 17 digs on the night.
As a team the Mavericks outhit the Eagles .142 to .085, while also out-blocking Georgia Southern 15.5-13. The Eagles out-dug UTA 67-63 in the match.
Trailing 15-12 in the first set, UTA responded with an 8-2 run that was highlighted by kills from Canete and Koch to put the Mavericks up 20-17. After the Eagles made a run of their own to tie the match up at 22, the Mavs closed out the set with three straight points which included kills by Canete and Sharratt as UT Arlington took the opening frame 25-22.
Canete paced the Mavericks through the first set as the Copperas Cove native recorded four kills and a hitting percentage of .300 to go along with three digs. Cooney led the charge defensively as the junior libero registered seven digs. As a team the Mavericks outhit the Eagles .105 to .065 while Georgia Southern outblocked UTA 6-2.
The Mavericks trailed 6-3 early in the second set before storming back with a 10-6 run that was capped off with a Canete kill, giving UTA a 13-12 advantage. With the second frame tied up at 14, the Mavs used a 4-1 run highlighted by an Ashley Bennett kill to take an 18-15 lead. Later in the set the Mavericks looked to be in complete control of the set as they held a 24-19 lead due to a Taylor Gross kill, but a late run by the Eagles cut the lead down to one point at 24-23. Despite Georgia Southern's plans to complete the comeback, UT Arlington finished off the set 25-23 after a Canete kill.
Canete led the Mavericks in kills in the second set with six. Sharratt also chipped in with three kills and a hitting percentage of .600. Amanda Welsh did her part to distribute the ball as the Austin native finished the second set with six assists. Taylor Story and Cooney also contributed defensively as the pair recorded five and four digs respectively. UTA outhit Georgia Southern .216 to .171 while both teams were even in blocks with two apiece.
The Eagles were fast out of the gate in the third frame as they held a 15-7 lead early in the set. Trailing 20-10 later in the set, UTA began to chip away at Georgia Southern's lead as an 8-3 run capped off with a Gross kill that brought the Mavs within five points at 24-19. The Eagles then stopped the comeback effort short as they took the set 25-19.
Sharratt led UTA defensively as she recorded four blocks in the set as UT Arlington outblocked Georgia Southern 6-3. Gross also got in on the action as the Allen native added three blocks of her own. Canete helped out offensively as the freshman OH led the team with four kills in the set. As a team the Mavericks were outhit .091 to .000.
The Eagles came out to a 3-1 lead in the fourth set before UTA came back with a 6-1 run that put the Mavericks up 7-4. The run was highlighted by four Maverick blocks. Later in the set with UT Arlington trailing 15-12, the Mavs stormed back with a 10-2 run that included four Canete kills to put UTA up 22-17. The Mavericks then closed out the set with three straight points as a block by Bennett and Koch gave the Mavericks the set 25-18 and the match 3-1.
Canete led UTA in the final frame as she recorded four kills and four digs. Welsh helped guide the offense as she recorded six assists while also coming up with four digs. Bennett made her presence known at the net in the final set as she recorded four blocks. The Mavericks outhit the Eagles .250 to .023 while also out blocking Georgia Southern 5.5-2.
UTA will now take to the road as they travel to Monroe, La. this Sunday to face ULM with the match set to begin at noon.
