ARLINGTON, Texas – The UT Arlington volleyball will take on Arkansas State (Friday, Nov. 5) and Little Rock (Saturday, Nov. 6) at College Park Center for the final two home matches of the season. The Mavericks will celebrate three seniors on Saturday night for Senior Night against Little Rock.
UTA NOTES
- UTA will be honoring three seniors this weekend as Brooke Townsend, Kylee Kapp and Kainah Williams will all be playing their final matches at the CPC. Townsend and Kapp have spent the last four years here, amassing over 1,000 kills and 1,000 assists respectively. Williams spent the 2021 season with UTA, transferring from Liberty.
- Brooke Townsend became the 19th Maverick to reach 1,000 career kills against Coastal Carolina. She became the first Maverick since Zhanelle Geathers joined the club in 2018.
- Not missing a beat from last year, Alli Wells picked right where she left off. The sophomore ranks 24th in the nation with 5.06 digs per set and 38th in total digs (410).
- Alli Wells hasn't just been a force on defense this year, the CoVID sophomore became the 22nd Maverick to reach 1,000 career digs against App State (Oct. 22). She becomes the 2nd Maverick in the JT Wenger era to enter the club, joining her predecessor Madelyn St. Germain (2019)
- The two best digging teams of the Sun Belt will face off this weekend as Arkansas State (18.36 digs/set) and UTA (16.77 digs/set) play. Those numbers all put both teams in the top 25 in the NCAA. A-State is 5th, while UTA is 24th.
- Freshman Briana Brown is 4th on the team in total block with 29.0, but has nearly double the amount of solo blocks as the next closest Mavericks. 11 of her 29 blocks have been solo. Monica LaFleur has the next highest solo blocks with 6. LaFleur has 58 total blocks on the season.
NEW FACES
- The Mavericks have 11 freshmen on their team - only three of which are first year players due to COVID-19 eligibility - defensive specialist Kaylen Beaty (Fort Worth, Texas; Boswell HS), outside hitter Lauren Staruch (Lake Orion, Mich.; Lake Orion HS), and middle blocker Monica LaFleur (Hartland, Wisc.; Arrowhead HS).
- Wenger brought in three transfers in the offseason – junior outside hitter Nya Blair (Grand Prairie, Texas; San Diego State), sophomore defensive specialist Emily Larson (Nashotah, Wisc.; UW-Green Bay), and graduate senior middle blocker Kainah Williams (Spring Branch, Texas; Liberty).
SERIES HISTORY - ARKANSAS STATE
- The Mavericks are coming off a 3-1 win over A-State on Oct. 14. UTA leads the all-time series 14-12. In Arlington, the Mavs lead the series 9-7 and took two out of three in the CPC last season.
SERIES HISTORY - LITTLE ROCK
- UTA won their 6th straight over Little in a 3-1 win in Little Rock on Oct. 16. The Mavs lead the series 21-13 and are 12-7 in Arlington. UTA has not lost at home to Little Rock since Nov. 7, 2014 (1-3).
UP NEXT
- The Mavericks will end the regular season next week when they travel to Louisiana to take on Louisiana (Friday, Nov. 12) and ULM (Sunday, Nov. 14).
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