Sept. 18, 2015
Final Stats | Photo Gallery
By Cassie Logan | @c4ssielogan
ARLINGTON, Texas - UT Arlington stayed hot at the net and swept Louisiana to earn its first Sun Belt Conference victory Friday night at College Park Center.
The Mavericks opened the first set on a 4-0 run that included three blocks and never looked back. UT Arlington won the opener 25-20 and stretched an 11-point lead to take the second set 25-14. A pair of kills from sophomore outside hitter Qiana Canete capped the final set and secured the Mavs' sweep 25-20.
UT Arlington once again dominated at the net and out-blocked the Ragin' Cajuns 9-2. The Mavericks also showed a sharper offense with 43 kills and a .266 hitting percentage to Louisiana's 34 kills and .105 effort.
The Mavs move to 10-3 overall with their first conference win, while extending their home win streak to three games. The Ragin' Cajuns fell to 3-9 on the season and 0-1 in Sun Belt play. UTA now leads 13-1 in the all-time series.
Player of the Match
Canete notched her sixth double-double of the season with a standout offensive and defensive effort. The Copperas Cove product powered a match-high 12 kills with 10 digs and three blocks for 14.5 of the squad's points.
Stat Leaders
Freshman Marisah Ingram marked a .500 hitting percentage on seven kills while committing just two attack errors. The middle blocker matched four other Mavericks with three blocks a piece including Canete, Stacey Koch and Zhanelle Geathers. Cassidy Wheeler also chipped in, dishing out 36 assists to go along with 10 digs and a pair of blocks.
Milestone Watch
Senior libero Caitlyn Cooney surpassed Ana de Oliveira on the UTA career digs leaderboard with a 10-dig performance Friday night. The Houston native's 1,551 career digs are the seventh-best all time for the program. Cooney is heading into Saturday's match 13 digs away from matching Torie Dacus' 1,564.
Quotables
"That was definitely motivation knowing that we got swept by them last year. I feel like we all came in remembering that and remembering what we had to do. I think that we really showed that we were better than them tonight." -Canete on facing Louisiana
"We did some really good things tonight, but we were a little bit inconsistent and every night the Sun Belt is going to be a test, so we're going to have to play better than we did tonight on a consistency basis for sure." -Seymour
"We do block very well, so we have a good presence at the net for sure, but we served extremely aggressively. It may not show up on aces, we didn't ace them any, but we put them in difficult situations and that's one of the things that we talked about this year too, that we want to be a tougher serving team." -Seymour
"Her ceiling is very, very high and so we expect a lot from her. Did I think she would catch up as quickly as she has? Yes and no. It's a challenging thing to play for me. I am not easy to play for when I see that the expectation is something very high, I want you to get there as quickly as possible, so she's constantly getting jabber in her ear whether it's praise, criticism or critique. She's handled that load very well." -Seymour on Ingram's blocking success
Up Next
The Mavericks will continue Sun Belt play with a quick turnaround to Georgia State at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at College Park Center. The Panthers kicked off their conference slate against Texas State with a four-set loss in San Marcos Friday night.
Follow Saturday's Match
Tickets are available for purchase at UTATickets.com or by calling 817-272-9595.
This weekend's matches will be available for stream on UTAMavs.com with Josh Sours and Amanda Kent on the call. Live stats for all UTA matches can be found at UTAStats.com.
