Final Stats

By Michael Eldridge | @DFWSportsMike

TROY, Ala. - For the first time since 2007, UT Arlington has opened up its road conference schedule with a 2-0 record. The Mavericks completed the feat with a 3-0 win over Troy on Sunday at Trojan Arena in Sun Belt play.

UTA, ending a brief two-game trip to open up the SBC campaign, improved to 8-9 overall and will have the opportunity to move back to .500 as it opens up a five-match homestand that begins at College Park Center on Friday vs. Appalachian State.

Using several runs to take command of the match, a big 16-3 run (helped along by an 11-0 push) pushed the Mavericks to a big opening-set win. Kaitlyn Granger led with three kills in the first and had a match-high six after two. In the second, the teams played a bit closer with the match tied at 20 apiece. However, UTA took control with another run, this time it was a 5-1 spurt that closed out the second.

The Mavericks continued their momentum to start off the third with a quick 3-0 start to the set and never looked back. Similarly to the first, UTA powered a 10-4 run to pull away and close out the match.

PLAYERS OF THE MATCH
Three Mavericks finished tied with seven kills as the UTA offense hit .278 in the match. Zhanelle Geathers was an efficient 7-of-11 as she combined with Granger and Madison McConnell on the scoreboard with seven.

KEY STATS
The Mavs out blocked the Trojans 13-4 with eight block assists coming from Marisah Ingram. McConnell joined in on the action with five block assists. … Troy finished with 29 attack errors compared to UTA's eight. … Troy hit just .010 overall. … It is the second consecutive year that UTA is 2-0 to start conference play.

UP NEXT
UTA returns back to College Park Center on Friday to host Appalachian State in Sun Belt action. The match is the first of five in a row at home for UTA.

QUOTABLE
UTA coach Diane Seymour on the 2-0 conference start
"It is so important as I've said before to get the wins when you can over the teams from the East Division. To get two road victories is really big for us."

Seymour on being able to win the match on a few big runs
"This is probably the best that we have really done that. We had a big run in the first and scored nine or 10 in a row and Troy picked it up in the second, but it was ok because we were able to come out on top. That was what we talked about in the locker room, the ability to come out and put your foot down and put away the match."

Seymour on McConnell's big weekend
"She is really comfortable for us in the middle. They said she would be an outside in college, and only time will tell, but the ability to put her in the middle and have her help out on both sides of the ball has been really big for us."

Seymour's thoughts on the consistent play by Cassidy Wheeler
"Staying in the match has helped her consistency. As long as she does a good job in the lining up on the outside hitters and helping in the block, we will stay with that type of offense around her."