Sept. 19, 2015
Final Stats
By Cassie Logan | @c4ssielogan
ARLINGTON, Texas - UT Arlington improved to 2-0 in Sun Belt Conference play with a four-set win against Georgia State Saturday night at College Park Center.
The Mavericks' defense played a vital role in the victory as UTA out-dug and out-blocked the Panthers. Though both teams recorded 52 kills each, the Mavs swung more consistently at a .203 hitting percentage.
A pair of Georgia State attack errors and a Stacey Koch kill handed UTA the opening set 25-23 before the Panthers stormed back to steal the second. The teams shifted leads throughout the third and forth set, but the Mavericks took advantage of Georgia State's late offensive errors, including a setting error to end the match.
UTA moved to 11-3 on the season, including a 6-1 record at home. The Panthers drop to 4-8 overall with their second conference loss.
Player of the Match
Senior opposite hitter Stacey Koch registered a team-high 14 kills, 17 points and six block assists on the night. The Colony native notched six digs and 6.5 points in the second set alone.
Stat Leaders
Freshman Mikail Russell held down the back court with a match-high 17 digs with a service ace. Zhanelle Geathers contributed 10.5 points with eight kills and a match-best .357 hitting percentage. Junior setter Cassidy Wheeler marked 36 assists and three blocks.
Milestone Watch
Senior libero Caitlyn Cooney climbed into a tie for sixth on the UTA career digs leaderboard with 13 Saturday night. The Houston native owns 1,564 donning a Maverick uniform, matching Torie Dacus.
Wheeler now sits in ninth place for all-time assists in the UTA record books. Wheeler passed Heidi Christensen's 1,564 with her 36 assists on the night.
Quotables
"A win is a win. It was very ugly and was not good volleyball by us, but you have to be happy that you were able to get away with a win here." -UT Arlington coach Diane Seymour on the win
"We're playing an unbalanced conference schedule this year with 16 matches and we don't get to play everybody twice so every win is important, especially wins on your home court are going to end up being very, very important down the home stretch." -Seymour on importance of getting the win
"I'm just glad we're getting wins. Tonight we weren't mentally checked in and you could see that from the first set going on. It can't come that slowly because when we play better teams we're not going to be able to pull those wins out if we're not all checked in." -Cooney on the match
"She saved us in a lot of opportunities there. She came up big on some easy plays and she botched a couple too, just like everybody else, but she came up with a lot of big digs. So did Madison Helt if you think about it. Maybe the stat sheet only reflects 11 digs for Madison, but she came up with some big plays. That's good by two freshmen on a night that we're not playing very good volleyball." -Seymour on the play of Mikail Russell
Up Next
UTA will travel to Arkansas for its first pair of conference road matches beginning with Arkansas State at 6 p.m. CT Friday at Convocation Center in Jonesboro. The Mavericks will conclude the trip against Little Rock at noon CT Sunday.
