ARLINGTON --- The UT Arlington volleyball team (14-6, 3-4 WAC) will conclude a four-match homestand on Saturday with a 12 p.m. matchup against Tarleton (11-10, 2-5 WAC) inside the College Park Center.
 

UT ARLINGTON VOLLEYBALL INFORMATION
Match 21	UT Arlington (14-6, 3-4 WAC) vs Tarleton (11-10, 2-5 WAC)
Date | Time	Saturday, Oct. 14 | 12 PM
Location	College Park Center (CPC) | Arlington, Texas
Live Stats	Stat Broadcast
Streaming	ESPN+ ($)
Tickets	UTAtickets.com
Game Notes	UT Arlington (PDF) | Tarleton (PDF)

HONORING THE 1973 TEAM
In between the second and third sets on Saturday, UTA will recognize the 50th anniversary of the program's 1973 team, which went 33-9-3 in the program's first-ever season. Led by head coach Jody Conradt, the squad won their first seven matches, including a two-set sweep of East Texas State, which is now known as Texas A&M Commerce. In the postseason, the Mavs knocked off Texas Woman's University to capture the state championship. Despite a runner-up finish to TWU in the SWAIAW regional tournament, UTA earned a berth to the AIAW national tournament, which is a pre-cursor to the NCAA. Over a span of five pool-play matchups, the Mavs defeated Winthrop, Southern Connecticut and Florida State in straight sets, although they did not advance.
 
Members of the 1973 team include: Cathy Thomas, Laurie Gibson, Karen Owen, Pam Morris, Donna Christiansen, Kathy Gunter, Anne Braswell, Ellisann Hodges, Cyndie Callicut, Chris Mayhew and Kathy Kennedy.
 
The legacy of the 1973 team lives on as they started one of the winningest programs in NCAA Division I volleyball history. In 50+ seasons, UTA has compiled a 1,153-688-8 all-time record, which puts them 16th nationally in all-time wins. Meanwhile, the Mavs have compiled 16 national tournament appearances in either the NCAA or AIAW, including an Final Four appearance in 1989, and captured 22 combined regular season and tournament conference championships.
 
SERIES HISTORY
UTA is 4-1-1 all-time against Tarleton in a series that dates back to October 1973. The teams battled to a tie in their first-ever matchup on Oct. 27, 1973 in Stephenville, and the Mavs later produced a two-set win in Arlington on Oct. 18, 1977 in the only home game for UTA so far in the series. Tarleton's lone win came in a Covid-era doubleheader in Stephenville on Feb. 6, 2021.
 
WELLS ONE STEP FROM HISTORY
Graduate libero Alli Wells added 15 more digs to her tally in Thursday's match against Abilene Christian, which pushed her career total to 1,929 and moved her past Ashley Smith (1,921, 2003-06) for second place on the program's career list, which means she is just 71 digs shy of becoming the second player in program history to reach 2,000. Should she eclipse the milestone, Wells would become just the ninth active player in NCAA Division I volleyball with at least 2,000.
 
The only person ahead of Wells is Alicia Shaffer (2,033, 2008-11). She will enter Saturday's outing with 94 career double-digit dig performances.
 
NATIONAL LEADERS
The Mavs currently lead the conference in assists per set (12.77), kills per set (13.96) and attacks per set (35.59) while ranking second in digs per set, hitting percentage, opponent hitting percentage, total assists and total kills.
 
Individually, Brianna Ford leads the WAC in total kills and ranks nationally in total points (18th, 320), total kills (22nd, 271), points per set (26th, 4.78) and kills per set (31st, 4.04).
 
CLIMBING THE CHART
Brianna Ford enters Saturday's match with 1,086 career kills after passing Torie Dacus (1,071, 2004-07) for 17th place on the program's all-time career list. She sits 11 shy of surpassing Jessica Bowlin (1,096, 1995-98) for the next spot. The Amarillo native has registered three consecutive double-doubles, and she has at least 15 kills in three straight and seven of the past nine outings. She's averaging 24 kills over the past two matches, which helped her claim a second WAC player of the week award on Wednesday.
 
STORMIN' THE CPC
Thursday's match against Abilene Christian featured an attendance of 1,158, which was the fifth largest crowd to see a college volleyball match inside the College Park Center. In fact, five of the top 10 crowds in CPC history have come this season.
 
1. 2,108 - Texas State - Oct. 15, 2015 
2. 1,433 – Incarnate Word – Sept. 1, 2023
3. 1,396 - Texas State - Oct. 13, 2016 
4. 1,251 - Texas State - Oct. 8, 2014 
5. 1,158 – Abilene Christian – Oct. 12, 2023
6. 1,127 - Texas State - Nov. 9, 2018 
7. 1,080 – Presbyterian/La. Tech – Sept. 2, 2023
8. 1,058 – Grand Canyon – Oct. 5, 2023
9. 1,057 – California Baptist – Oct. 7, 2023
10. 1,047 - Lamar - Sept. 17, 2022
 
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