Final Stats

By Ben Rikard | @BenRikard

STATESBORO, Ga. - The fourth-seeded UT Arlington Mavericks could not overcome .109 hitting in the opening round of the Sun Belt Conference Championship as the fifth-seeded Little Rock Trojans eliminated the Mavs, 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-19) on Friday afternoon at Hanner Fieldhouse.

UTA (19-10) led by as much as three late through the first set before the Trojans (14-13) went on an 8-3 run to switch momentum to their favor and steal the first set. Little Rock led nearly wire-to-wire during the remaining two sets.

The Mavs held Little Rock to just .188 hitting on the defensive side, but the Trojans finished with nine blocks in holding UTA to its second-lowest attack percentage of the season.

Marina Avram led the Trojans with 13 kills, while Edina Selimovic and Veronica Marin each had nine.

Stacey Koch and Kaitlyn Granger each finished with a team-best eight kills for the Mavs, who had their season end with a 19-10 overall mark and a third consecutive trip to the SBC Tournament.

Statistical leaders
Caitlyn Cooney picked up a team-best 14 digs, while Madison Helt and Qiana Canete each joined her in double figures with 10 apiece.

Zhanelle Geathers had a hand in four of UTA's five blocks on the match and Cassidy Wheeler dished out 30 assists. Koch and Granger's eight kills led UTA, with Marisah Ingram, Canete and Geathers all adding five of their own.

Record Watch
Ingram and Geathers combined for 222 total blocks this season, the second most by a freshmen duo in UTA program history.

Cooney finished with 1,820 digs for her career, ranking her fourth all-time for the Mavs.

Quotable
"Unfortunately they just outplayed us in all facets of the game. Outblocked us, outdug us and generated more kills, but overall our kids did a good job of battling back and unfortunately we just didn't have our A-game today." - UTA coach Diane Seymour