UT Arlington at Appalachian State
Oct. 10 | 5:30 p.m. CT
Live Stats | ESPN3
UTA Notes

By Paul Watley | @PRWatley

ARLINGTON, Texas - UT Arlington will wrap up a two-match road swing this weekend as it travels to Boone, N.C. to take on Appalachian State in George M. Holmes Convocation Center on Saturday night.

The Mavericks enter the match with a 13-6 overall record, while the Mountaineers come into the weekend with a 12-4 mark this season. Prior to playing UTA on Saturday, App will open up the weekend with a Friday match against Little Rock.

Last outing for the Mavericks
UT Arlington made a valiant comeback effort after dropping the first two sets to Texas State, but was unable to secure the victory, falling in five sets at Strahan Coliseum on Tuesday night.

The loss drops the Mavericks to 13-6 this season with a 4-3 mark in Sun Belt play. The Bobcats improve to 11-9 this season with a 6-1 conference record.

UTA out-hit and out-blocked Texas State, but seven receiving errors and a combined 46 kills for the Bobcats' Jordan Kohl and Kelsey Weynand was ultimately too much for the Mavericks to overcome.

About the Mountaineers
Appalachian State enters the weekend with an eight-match win streak, second best in the Sun Belt to Arkansas State's 12 matches. The Mountaineers 2015 slate has included four matches against schools from Power Five Conferences, including a sweep of Clemson on the road. The last loss for App came nearly one month ago when it dropped a five-set match to Missouri in Boone, N.C.

Appalachian State has been led this season by Jess Keller who is averaging a conference-high 4.43 kills per set this season. Primarily setting Keller up has been Paige Brown, whose 11.52 assists per set is also the top mark in the Sun Belt.

Sun Belt Standings
The Mavericks 4-3 Sun Belt record currently places the team fourth in the conference and two games back of third place Texas State. The Mountaineers hold a perfect 5-0 conference record heading into the weekend and trail only Arkansas State in the conference standings.

Series History
The series between UT Arlington and Appalachian State dates back to 2013 when the two programs met for the first time in Boone. The Mountaineers came out on top in the match, taking down the Mavs in four sets. Throughout the four-game series, the team playing in its home state has won each match. In addition to the series opener, App also won on its home court in 2014, while the Mavericks won matches in Arlington and San Marcos against the Mountaineers.

The last meeting between the two schools came in the opening round of the 2014 Sun Belt Championship, with UT Arlington securing a four-set victory over Appalachian State.

How to Watch the Match
Saturday night's match will be aired for free online on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app. The broadcast is slated to begin at 5:30 p.m. CT.

Fans can also follow along with the live stats for the match by visiting UTAStats.com.

Quotable
"Hopefully we continue to block as well as we have been. That and digging are two categories that we are better than them in, but we need for our defense to step up and slow their pace a little bit." -UT Arlington coach Diane Seymour on slowing down the Mountaineers offense

"Just trying to make sure that they are really focused in on the upcoming opponent and trying to get them as familiar as possible with the tendencies of the upcoming opponent because we have so many kids that aren't familiar with some of the players that are on Appalachian State or other teams rosters. Over the course of the next couple of years as these kids get older, the prep work for us will become easier." -Seymour on differences in coaching a young team versus a veteran team