AIR FORCE ACADEMY, COLO. --- The UT Arlington women's volleyball team opens its 51st season this weekend with a trio of matches as part of the Amy Svoboda Memorial Classic hosted by the Air Force Academy.

All six matches over the weekend will be held at the Academy's Cadet East Gym. Tickets can be purchased at AFTickets.com and the Academy's Clear Bag policy will be in effect. There will be live video and stats for all six matches, while George Egan and Brian Jerman will be on the call for the three Air Force matches. The matches will also be streamed on the Mountain West App (available on Android, IOS, Apple TV, Roku, and Android TV).
 

AMY SVOBODA MEMORIAL CLASSIC - HOW TO FOLLOW
Opening Serve	Opponent	Match Coverage
Friday, 5 PM (CT)	Bryant vs. UT Arlington	Stream | Live Stats
Friday, 7:30 PM (CT)	Air Force vs. Rhode Island	Stream | Live Stats
Saturday, 11 AM (CT)	Rhode Island vs. UT Arlington	Stream | Live Stats
Saturday, 1:30 PM (CT)	Air Force vs. Bryant	Stream | Live Stats
Saturday, 6 PM (CT)	Bryant vs. Rhode Island	Stream | Live Stats
Saturday, 8:30 PM (CT)	Air Force vs. UT Arlington	Stream | Live Stats
Game Notes: UT Arlington (PDF)

 
REMEMBERING AMY SVOBODA
This weekend's tournament is named after Amy Svoboda, a 1989 Air Force Academy graduate and four-year letterwinner on the Air Force volleyball team, who was killed during an A-10 training accident in 1997. Svoboda, who earned MVP honors during her senior season with the Falcons, was one of the first 14 female fighter pilots in the Air Force – and one of the first six to fly the A-10.

CATCHING YOU UP
This year's team is coming off a 17-10 season, which included a nine-match winning streak and a 9-5 finish in WAC play. The Mavs graduated Brooke Townsend, who concluded her illustrious career with 1,297 kills, which is 10th-most in program history. However, the squad returns nine players from last year, including 2023 Preseason All-WAC selection Brianna Ford and Alli Wells among a seven-person senior class.
 
Last year, Ford became the first player in program history to achieve First Team All-WAC recognition behind a monster campaign that included career-bests in kills (353), kills per set (3.39), hitting percentage (.243), digs (273), digs per set (2.63), assists (26), aces (26), blocks (87), blocks per set (0.84), solo blocks (13) and points (429.0). She enters this year needing 185 kills to become the 20th player in program history to reach 1,000 in a career.
 
Wells, meanwhile, led the Mavs defensive attack with a team-best 458 digs (4.20/set), a career-high 31 aces, 74 assists and one kill in 2022. She tallied double-digit digs in 24 of 27 matches and pushed her career total to 1,632, which is sixth-most in program history and 401 shy of becoming the all-time leader.
 
Reagor, a 6-6 middle blocker from Frisco, Texas, joins the Mavs after taking a year off school. She compiled 484 kills, a .279 hitting percentage, 200 blocks (38 solo), 33 digs, six assists and two aces over 55 career matches at Charleston Southern.
 
50 SEASONS OF UTA VOLLEYBALL
This year marks the 51st season of UT Arlington volleyball dating back to the program's inception in 1973.  Over those 50 seasons, the Mavs have built one of the richest volleyball traditions in NCAA Division I history with a 1,139-682-8 (.625) all-time record, which puts them 16th nationally in all-time wins. Meanwhile, UTA has compiled 16 national tournament appearances in either the NCAA or AIAW, including a Final Four appearance in 1989, and captured 22 combined regular season and tournament conference championships.
 
WEEKEND SERIES HISTORY
UTA is a combined 6-0 against this weekend's opponents, including a 4-0 against Rhode Island and 2-0 against Air Force. The Bryant meeting will be a first-time matchup.
 
The Mavs last played Rhode Island on Sept. 18, 1993, which resulted in a 3-1 win on a neutral court in Columbus, Ohio. This will be the third all-time neutral site meeting between the programs dating back to the series inception in 1982.
 
UTA swept Air Force in both previous meetings, which came in Arlington on Aug. 31, 2018 and in a neutral site matchup in Denver in 2015. This will be the first time the Mavs have had a true road matchup against Air Force.
 
50 YEARS OF SEASON OPENERS
The Mavs are 31-18-1 all-time in season openers, including a 9-3 record since 2011.
 
This year's opener in Colorado marks the second time that UT Arlington has opened a campaign in the Centennial State, joining the 1996 team's straight-set loss to Colorado in Boulder.
 
In total, UTA has opened a season in a 11 different states all-time, including Montana, Texas, Colorado, Washington, Kentucky, California, Delaware, Illinois, Oklahoma, Arizona and Arkansas.
 
On top of that, this year's start will be tied for the fourth-earliest opener in program history behind the Aug. 24 start of the 2007, 2012 and 2018 teams.
 

Sept. 22, 1973	W, 2-0	vs Texas A&M Commerce	Arlington, Texas
Oct. 4, 1974	T, 1-1	vs West Texas A&M	Denton, Texas
Sept. 22, 1975	W, 3-1	vs Texas Wesleyan	Fort Worth, Texas
Oct. 6, 1976	W, 2-0	vs Texas Woman's Univ.	Denton, Texas
Sept. 21, 1977	W, 3-0	vs Nebraska	Arlington, Texas
Sept. 11, 1978	L, 3-2	vs Minnesota	Arlington, Texas
Sept. 13, 1979	L, 3-2	vs Texas A&M	Arlington, Texas
Sept. 3, 1980	W, 3-0	vs Utah	Houston, Texas
Sept. 4, 1981	W, 2-0	vs North Texas	Arlington, Texas
Sept. 2, 1982	W, 3-0	vs Oral Roberts	Arlington, Texas
Sept. 2, 1983	W, 3-2	vs Texas Tech	Lubbock, Texas
Sept. 7, 1984	W, 3-2	vs Texas State	Arlington, Texas
Sept. 12, 1985	W, 3-0	vs Texas Wesleyan	Arlington, Texas
Sept. 5, 1986	W, 3-1	vs Texas State	San Marcos, Texas
Sept. 9, 1987	W, 3-0	vs North Texas	Arlington, Texas
Sept. 7, 1988	W, 3-0	vs Prairie View A&M	Arlington, Texas
Sept. 9, 1989	W, 3-1	vs Florida	Arlington, Texas
Aug. 31, 1990	L, 3-0	vs Oklahoma	Arlington, Texas
Aug. 30, 1991	W, 3-2	vs Wichita State	Arlington, Texas
Sept. 4, 1992	L, 3-0	vs Georgia	Arlington, Texas
Sept. 3, 1993	L, 3-0	vs UTEP	Arlington, Texas
Sept. 2, 1994	L, 3-0	vs Clemson	Arlington, Texas
Sept. 1, 1995	W, 3-0	vs Little Rock	Arlington, Texas
Aug. 30, 1996	L, 3-0	vs Colorado	Boulder, Colo.
Aug. 29, 1997	L, 3-1	vs Gonzaga	Pullman, Wash.
Sept. 1, 1998	L, 3-1	vs SMU	Dallas, Texas
Sept. 1, 1999	L, 3-0	vs Baylor	Arlington, Texas
Sept. 1, 2000	L, 3-1	vs Houston	Houston, Texas
Aug. 31, 2001	W, 3-0	vs NC A&T	Arlington, Texas
Aug. 30, 2002	L, 3-1	vs Arizona	Louisville, Ky.
Aug. 29, 2003	L, 3-0	vs Long Beach State	Long Beach, Calif.
Sept. 1, 2004	W, 3-2	vs Baylor	Arlington, Texas
Aug. 27, 2005	W, 3-0	vs Prairie View A&M	College Station, Texas
Aug. 25, 2006	W, 3-0	vs Seton Hall	Newark, Del.
Aug. 24, 2007	L, 3-0	vs Houston	Houston, Texas
Aug. 29, 2008	W, 3-0	vs Jackson State	Denton, Texas
Aug. 28, 2009	L, 3-0	vs Oral Roberts	Normal, Ill.
Aug. 27, 2010	L, 3-2	vs Miami (Fla.)	Norman, Okla.
Aug. 26, 2011	W, 3-0	vs Southern	El Paso, Texas
Aug. 24, 2012	W, 3-0	vs Savannah State	Arlington, Texas
Aug. 30, 2013	W, 3-2	vs Abilene Christian	Arlington, Texas
Aug. 29, 2014	W, 3-0	vs Incarnate Word	Arlington, Texas
Aug. 28, 2015	W, 3-0	vs Campbell	Arlington, Texas
Aug. 26, 2016	W, 3-2	vs Sam Houston	Arlington, Texas
Aug. 25, 2017	W, 3-0	vs Southern	Arlington, Texas
Aug. 24, 2018	L, 3-1	vs Arizona State	Tempe, Ariz.
Aug. 30, 2019	W, 3-2	vs Texas A&M Corpus Christi	Houston, Texas
Oct, 9, 2020	W, 3-1	vs Little Rock	Little Rock, Ark.
Aug. 27, 2021	L, 3-1	vs Incarnate Word	Abilene, Texas
Aug. 26, 2022	L, 3-1	vs UC Davis	Missoula, Mont.

 
NINE SHY
UTA head coach J.T. Wenger is nine wins shy of 100 in his career, which has included a 91-78 (.538) record over six seasons. He is coming off his second-best season in Arlington and is looking to join Mary Ridgway (254, 1976-81), Diane Seymour (211, 2004-16), Lisa Love (199, 1982-88), Janine Smith (180, 180-137) and Jody Conradt (111, 1973-75) as one of six coaches in program history to reach the century mark.
 
NEW FACES ON STAFF
This offseason, head coach JT Wenger had two of his assistant coaches depart for jobs at their alma maters - Carlisa May (Arkansas State) and Emily Hill (Texas Tech). However, he immediately filled those roles with some very talented young coaches who may be familiar to area volleyball fans: Emily DeWalt, a setter who finished her career at Texas State this past season as the Sun Belt's all-time assist leader, and Lacey Jeffcoat, a defensive specialist who totaled 1,780 career digs over a five-yer career at Troy (2018-21) and Mississippi State (2022). Jeffcoat competed against UT Arlington five times in her career while at Troy, ultimately registering 75 digs over that span, including 25 in a four-set match on Oct. 19, 2019 inside the College Park Center.

In addition to those two, Wenger added Gianluca Grasso as an assistant coach. A Brazilian native, Grasso registered 787 career kills over three seasons on the men's volleyball team at Southern Cal, culminating his career in 2019 before playing internationally.
 
NON-CONFERENCE NUGGETS
UTA will face three opponents for the first time: Bryant, Presbyterian and Central Arkansas.
 
The Mavs will meet Air Force and Texas Southern on the road, which is the first time they've played either of those opponents on their home courts.
 
UTA is a combined 138-42 (.767) all-time against their 13 non-conference opponents entering the season.
 
UTA has never lost to Texas A&M Commerce, Rhode Island, Texas Southern and Air Force, going a combined 25-0 against those four, highlighted by a 17-0 record against Commerce.
 
UTA is 54-11 all-time against North Texas, which includes an astounding 48-0 record to begin the series history, although North Texas has won seven of the past eight.
 
This will be UTA's third-straight neutral site meeting against Incarnate Word.
 
50+ IN 50 SEASONS
UTA has played nine schools at least 50 times over its 50-year history, and two of those are North Texas (65) and McNeese (50). In fact, the Mavs have met only three opponents more than UNT: Texas State (87), Lamar (82) and Sam Houston (74).
 
87 - Texas State
82 - Lamar
74 - Sam Houston
65 - North Texas
61 - Stephen F. Austin
59 - ULM
53 - Texas A&M
50 - Houston
50 - McNeese
 
WAC ANNOUNCES PRESEASON AWARDS
Brianna Ford was one of nine student-athletes selected for the WAC's Preseason All-Conference Team.
 
2023 Preseason All-Conference Team
Klaire Mitchell, Grand Canyon, Gr., S
Tatum Parrot, Grand Canyon, So., OH
Ielan Bradley, Stephen F. Austin, Sr., RS
Haley Hoang, Stephen F. Austin, Sr., L
Ariana Pagan, Stephen F. Austin, Gr., OH
Brianna Ford, UT Arlington, Sr., OH   
Luanna Emiliano, UTRGV, Jr., S
Luisa Silva Dos Santos, UTRGV, Sr., MB 
Tori Ellis, Utah Valley, Sr., OH   
 
SFA's Ielan Bradley (Player of the Year), UTRGV's Luanna Emiliano (Setter of the Year) and SFA's Haley Hoang (Libero of the Year) took home the major preseason awards.
 
Meanwhile, UTA was tabbed to finish fifth in the WAC this year in a poll of the league's coaches:
 
2023 Preseason Coaches Poll
(First place votes in parentheses)
1. Stephen F. Austin, 99 points (9)
2. Grand Canyon, 87 points (1)
3. UTRGV, 80 points (1)
4. Utah Valley, 74 points
5. UT Arlington, 69 points
6. California Baptist, 56 points
7. Utah Tech, 45 points
8. Southern Utah, 34 points 
9. Tarleton State, 28 points
10. Abilene Christian, 22 points
11. Seattle U, 11 points

CHASING HISTORY
Several Mavs are looking to move on up in the record book this season, highlighted by Alli Wells, who is attempting to become the program's all-time digs leader, and Brianna Ford, who is 185 kills away from joining the 1,000 kills club. Mollie Blank is also looking to join the top 10 players in program history for career assists.

TOTAL KILLS

1.	1,787 - Heather Hoy (.255) - 1994-97
2.	1,729 - Ana de Oliveira (.315) - 1985-88
3.	1,578 - Amber Pack (.216) - 1999-02
4.	1,505 - Qiana Canete (.175) - 2014-17
5.	1,490 - Valeria Whitfield (.251) - 1990-92
6.	1,416 - Caley Smith (.303) - 2001-04
7.	1,407 - Judith McGill (.241) - 1983-86
8.	1,344 - Trisha Walker (.204) - 1997-00
9.	1,330 - Chris Rudiger (.255) - 1986-89
10.	1,297 - Brooke Townsend (.209) - 2018-22
11.	1,251 - Teresa Ogden (.248) - 1982-83
12.	1,245 - Fannie Burton (.232) - 1991-94
13.	1,164 - Amanda Aguilera (.159) - 2008-11
14.	1,148 - Shari Parks (.264) - 1984-87
15.	1,132 - Zhanelle Geathers (.231) - 2014-18
16.	1,096 - Jessica Bowlin (.172) - 1995-98
17.	1,071 - Torie Dacus (.255) - 2004-07
18.	1,047 - Jackie Bennett (.333) - 1985-88
19.	1,008 - Tara Frantz (.183) - 2008-11
20.	959 - Kylie Jedlicka (.191) - 2016-19
21.	953 - Michele Humbach (.243) - 1982-84
22.	946 - April Lee (.217) - 1990-93
23.	927 - Ashley Van Antwerp (.220) - 2002-05
24.	913 - Stacey Koch (.265) - 2012-15
25.	852 - Bianca Sauls (.208) - 2007-10
26.	843 - Jinni Touchstone (.198) - 1995-98
27.	826 - Anita Allgood (.246) - 1986-89
28.	815 - BRIANNA FORD (.203) - 2020-PRESENT
29.	804 - Taylor Gross (.255) - 2012-14
30.	732 - Olaya Pazo (.281) - 2001-02

 
TOTAL DIGS

1.	2,033 - Alicia Shaffer (444 sets) - 2008-11
2.	1,921 - Ashley Smith (411 sets) - 2003-06
3.	1,887 - Amber Pack (423 sets) - 1999-02
4.	1,820 - Caitlyn Cooney (458 sets) - 2012-15
5.	1,728 - Jessica Bowlin (462 sets) - 1995-98
6.	1,632 - ALLI WELLS (369 SETS) - 2019-PRESENT
7.	1,626 - Qiana Canete (475 sets) - 2014-17
8.	1,623 - Judith McGill (535 sets) - 1983-86
9.	1,564 - Torie Dacus (450 sets) - 2004-07
10.	1,550 - Ana de Oliveira (468 sets) - 1985-88

 
TOTAL ASSISTS

1.	5,769 - Katie Weismiller (542 sets) - 1983-86
2.	5,614 - Kisha Tucker (461 sets) - 1997-00
3.	5,483 - Heather Dunn (451 sets) - 2001-04
4.	4,224 - Shawn Sweeten (382 sets) - 1987-89
5.	4,089 - Colleen Farrell (367 sets) - 1990-92
6.	3,545 - Amanda Welsh (480 sets) - 2011-14
7.	3,489 - Emily Nedderman (339 sets) - 2005-07
8.	3,121 - Cassidy Wheeler (487 sets) - 2013-16
9.	2,947 - Raegan Daniel (363 sets) - 2007-10
10.	1,654 - Kylee Kapp (363 sets) - 2018-21
11.	1,564 - Heidi Christensen (187 sets) - 1993-94
12.	1,290 - MOLLIE BLANK (254 SETS) - 2020-PRESENT
13.	1,099 - Dawn Foley (121 sets) - 1995
14.	1,096 - Jessica Stancliff (187 sets) - 2019-22
15.	968 - Tina Herring (309 sets) - 1990,93-94
16.	860 - Jennifer Palmer (136 sets) - 1995-97
17.	692 - SOPHIE SKINNER (104 SETS) - 2022-PRESENT
18.	574 - Alex Janak (103 sets) - 2018
19.	495 - Kailyn Gilbreath (55 sets) - 2017
20.	490 - Haley Higgins (63 sets) - 2017
21.	419 - Jennifer Harris (144 sets) - 1995-98
22.	363 - Ashley Smith (411 sets) - 2003-06
23.	356 - Caitlyn Cooney (458 sets) - 2012-15
24.	354 - Torie Dacus (450 sets) - 2004-07
25.	293 - ALLI WELLS (369 SETS) - 2019-PRESENT

 
FOLLOW THE MAVS
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