Aug. 26, 2016
Box Score | Photo Gallery 
By Michael Eldridge | @DFWSportsMike
ARLINGTON, Texas - UT Arlington was able to overcome a huge momentum swing in taking a five-set thriller on Opening Night at College Park Center on Friday.
The Mavericks (1-0) downed Sam Houston State (0-1) in the season opener despite leading 2-0 and seemingly cruising to a sweep. However, a close loss in Set 3 and a 25-18 set back in Set 4 sent things to the deciding final set.
UTA was able to overcome the adversity and pulled away in the fifth, 15-11, to claim its sixth consecutive season opener and improve to 5-0 in College Park Center openers. Qiana Canete, leading the team with 13 double-doubles in 2015, started her campaign with a team-high 15 kills and a match-high 27 digs on the way to her first of the year.
After making quick work of the opening set, 25-18, UT Arlington found itself in a fight with the Bearkats in the second. SHSU opened up a 15-10 lead before UTA put together a charge. The Mavs reeled off six points in a row to take the lead, and after going back-and-forth, took five of the final seven sets to claim a Set 2 win (25-22).
Sam Houston State battled back to win sets three and four and was deadlocked at 10-10 in the decider. UTA reeled off five of the game's final six points to claim the win.
The Mavericks earned their 50th all-time win over the Bearkats, improving to 50-20 all-time in the former match up of Southland Conference foes. It was the first meeting between the teams since UTA had left the conference in 2011.
Up Next
UT Arlington continues play in the Maverick Invitational as Day 2 action gets underway. The Mavs take on Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 1:30 p.m. and concludes the weekend against Sacramento State at 7 p.m. Sacramento State swept Pine Bluff 3-0 in the tournament's first match.
Players of the Match
Joining Canete in the double-digit kill list, Zhanelle Geathers powered 14 kills with a .226 attack percentage, while Kaitlyn Granger provided 12 kills. Taylor Murata, in her first collegiate game, finished with 23 digs.
Key Stats
UTA hit .194 compared to SHSU's .153. UTA had 11.0 blocks, while Sam Houston State had just 7.0. The Bearkats featured three with a double-double. Jordyn Vaughn had a team-high 22 kills with 14 digs, while Brooke White had 16 kills to go with 13 digs. Setter Michelle Griffith had 30 assists and 12 digs.
Milestone Watch
UTA coach Diane Seymour earned win No. 195 and is just five wins away from being only the second coach in Maverick history with 200 wins (Mary Ridgway, 263).
Quotable
UT Arlington coach Diane Seymour-
"Probably not exactly what you want, to go five sets on opening night, but you always want to win, so you've got to put that in your back pocket. You got a learning lesson fore sure. I would not expect anything less from Sam Houston State. They are pesky fighters and always have been in the years we've played them. I knew it was going to be a tough match fore sure. I'm very proud of our girls. They showed a lot of tenacity and a lot of confidence in each other to play with such a wide variety on our roster of old and young and they were able to settle themselves down and really take care of things in that fifth set."
Seymour on Taylor Murata's play-
"She was all over the place. Our libero did a tremendous job. We are so thrilled about her with the balls she can run down and pop up for us to extend rallies is tremendous and its very catching because once she ops one up you see the next athlete that's very quick and someone like Q get to that ball and keep the rally going.
"She did a great job and Qiana was unbelievable as well having 27 digs and 15 kills. That's a pretty good nights work i would say."
Seymour on the play of the newcomers-
"Hopefully they can learn something from tonight. I think they'll come in very determined to take care of business in the early match because they know Sacramento State will be the tougher opponent tomorrow. They know and are a little bit disappointed it went five sets but are happy with the win."
Qiana Canete-
"I'm always on the court so i have always have to have momentum and keeping everybody up and trying to keep everyone focused and in the game."
"That's what two a days is about. We spend some of our time during two-a-days where we will play really hard on a Wednesday night, bounce back on a Thursday morning play really hard again and then come back Thursday night and play again for this time of year. So we are going to be prepared for it."
Zhanelle Geathers on moving to right side-
"It was a lot of fun. I was not expecting that tonight to be honest but once we warmed up and actually had other competition it just kind of felt natural."
