Sept. 30, 2016 Final Stats
By Cassie Logan | @c4ssielogan
ARLINGTON, Texas - UT Arlington seized control throughout a quick Sun Belt Conference sweep of Appalachian State Friday night at College Park Center.
UTA (9-9, 3-0 SBC) broke .500 for the first time in exactly one month and extended its win streak to a season-high five matches. The Mavericks evened the all-time series against Appalachian State (2-14, 0-3) at 3 games apiece.
UTA grasped a commanding 10-of-12 points early in the first set. Three consecutive blocks from Marisah Ingram and Cassidy Wheeler later wore the Mountaineers down and a final kill from Kaitlyn Granger set the tone to end the first, 25-15.
A control in momentum led to a 5-1 opening run for the Mavericks in the second frame, and their lead grew to as large as 13 at set-point. With three consecutive service aces from Madelyn St. Germain late in Set 3, UTA was able to pad its advantage and finish the job 25-14.
PLAYERS OF THE MATCH
Cassidy Wheeler notched a game-high 27 assists and five blocks. The senior also added five kills and a .625 hitting percentage. Marisah Ingram tallied four blocks with eight kills.
KEY STATS
The Mavs took the driver's seat early, putting up five blocks and holding the Mountaineers to a -.111 attack percentage in the first set. On the night, UTA out-blocked Appalachian State 10-1 and out-killed the team 37-21. The Mountaineers could never find an offensive rhythm, hitting -.022 in the match.
UTA also found success in masking the conference's leading killer in freshman Emma Longley. The freshman totaled just four kills with five digs.
MILESTONE WATCH
Taylor Murata built her case for the top- 10 freshman single-season digs list with 10 against the Mountaineers. Murata is now just 13 away from moving into 10th.
QUOTABLES
Seymour on tonight's effort:
"We've had a good week of practice even after some delayed travel. We did some really good things in the gym to prepare for this and prepare us for tomorrow, too. We really worked on execution this week and I think we executed things very well tonight."
Seymour on the team's energy level:
"We talked about this little stretch here where we get five matches at home against five of the top opponents. We need to do the best we can to win all five, for sure win four out of five, and it starts with match one."
Wheeler on the pace of play:
"We talked during a timeout about how they were playing slower and if we had the opportunity, we were going to get back to the serving line and serve fast. We wanted to get them out of rhythm and not let them think about what's happening."
UP NEXT
UTA and Coastal Carolina will meet for the first time ever in a conference matchup at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at CPC sponsored by eSix.
