ARLINGTON, TEXAS ---The UT Arlington women's volleyball team (3-0) will look to continue its winning ways as the program hosts the UTA Classic this weekend beginning with a 6 p.m. matchup against Incarnate Word on Friday.

The opening match will be a White Out, and the first 200 fans through the door will receive a free UTA White Out t-shirt.
 

UTA CLASSIC - HOW TO FOLLOW
Opening Serve	Opponent	Match Coverage
Friday, 10 AM	Incarnate Word vs. Presbyterian	Stream | Live Stats
Friday, 3 PM	Presbyterian vs. Louisiana Tech	Stream | Live Stats
Friday, 6 PM	UT Arlington vs. Incarnate Word	Stream | Live Stats
Saturday, 10:30 AM	UT Arlington vs. Presbyterian	Stream | Live Stats
Saturday, 1 PM	Louisiana Tech vs. Incarnate Word	Stream | Live Stats
Saturday, 6 PM	UT Arlington vs. Louisiana Tech	Stream | Live Stats
Game Notes: UT Arlington (PDF)  Roster + Pronunciation: Presbyterian (PDF)	Game Notes: Louisiana Tech (PDF) Roster + Pronunciation: Louisiana Tech (PDF)	Game Notes: Incarnate Word (PDF) Roster + Pronunciation: Incarnate Word (PDF)

 
HOT START
This year's team is the 15th in the 50+ year history of UT Arlington volleyball to start the season with at least three consecutive victories, and they are just the sixth to do so since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The most recent team to achieve at least three wins to start the campaign was the 2020 squad that started 5-0. They also won three in a row to begin the 2017 campaign, making this the third such occurrence in head coach JT Wenger's era.
 

2023	3-0
2020	5-0
2017	3-0
2013	3-0
2004	6-0
1995	3-0
1989	3-0
1988	5-0
1987	7-0
1985	4-0
1983	6-0
1982	4-0
1981	6-0
1976	6-0
1973	7-0

REAGOR'S BIG WEEK
Paige Reagor, a 6-6 middle blocker in her first season in Arlington after transferring in from Charleston Southern, tallied 33 kills while hitting .459 and producing 15 blocks over three victories for UTA last weekend en route to Amy Svoboda Memorial Classic MVP recognition. In doing so, she was also named the WAC Player of the Week.

In the opener against Bryant, Reagor produced 13 kills and seven blocks while hitting .458. She followed that up with eight kills at a .500 clip along with four blocks against Rhode Island, and she registered 12 kills, a .429 hitting percentage and four blocks in the finale against Air Force.

The honor is Reagor's third career conference player of the week award, including the two that she earned in the Big South in the spring 2021 post-Covid season.

ALL-TOURNEY WELLS
In addition to Reagor, graduate senior libero Alli Wells was named to the Amy Svoboda Memorial Classic all-tournament team. She tallied 33 digs over the three matches.

DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS
With Friday night's matchup against Incarnate Word, UTA will have a chance to improve its 533-294-6 all-time record against teams from the state of Texas. That includes 835 total matches as well as a 1,606 to 1,107 sets won vs lost advantage. The Mavs have played 42 different schools from Texas with the most matchups coming against Texas State (87), Lamar (82), Sam Houston (74), North Texas (65) and Stephen F. Austin (61). Incarnate Word ranks tied for 24th on that list with five all-time meetings against UTA.
 
WEEKEND SERIES HISTORY
UTA is a combined 11-4 all-time against Incarnate Word (3-2) and Louisiana Tech (8-2) while this will be the first-ever meeting against Presbyterian.
 
Incarnate Word and UTA first met in 2014, which resulted in a 3-0 win for the Mavs, who are 2-0 in Arlington in the series history. Coincidentally, UTA last met Louisiana Tech in 2014, and they have won seven straight in the series history. The two teams first met in New Orleans on Sept. 12, 1993, which the Mavs won 3-1.
 
Here's how the Mavs stack up against this year's non-conference opponents. This list includes results of last weekend's results.
 

OPPONENT	YEARS	G	W	L	T	PF	PA	STREAK
Bryant	2023	1	1	0	0	3	1	W1
Rhode Island	1982-23	5	5	0	0	14	2	W5
Air Force	2015-23	3	3	0	0	9	2	W3
Incarnate Word	2014-21	5	3	2	0	12	6	L2
Presbyterian	n/a	0	0	0	0	0	0	-
Louisiana Tech	1973-2019	10	8	2	0	25	12	W7
Central Arkansas	-	0	0	0	0	0	0	-
Tulsa	1984-2021	5	1	4	0	6	13	L4
Oral Roberts	1978-2015	20	12	8	0	34	30	W1
Texas Southern	2009-14	2	2	0	0	6	1	W2
North Texas	1973-2022	65	54	11	0	155	46	L4
McNeese	1983-2022	50	35	15	0	119	66	W6
A&M Commerce	1973-2022	17	17	0	0	37	3	W17
TOTALS		183	138	42	0	420	182

 
SIX SHY
UTA head coach J.T. Wenger is six wins shy of 100 in his career, which has included a 94-78 (.547) record over six-plus 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.
 
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 1,142-682-8 (.625) all-time record, which puts them 16th nationally in all-time wins (entering this season). 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.
 
HOME OPENER ON TAP
The Mavs are 36-14 all-time in home openers, including a 12-1 record over the past 13. Coincidentally, UTA opened their 50th all-time home slate last season against Texas A&M Commerce, a team that the program met in its very first home match in the program's inaugural season, 1973.
 

Sept. 22, 1973	W, 2-0	Texas A&M Commerce
Oct. 15, 1974	W, 3-0	Texas Wesleyan
Oct. 13, 1975	L, 2-0	Texas Woman's University
Oct. 20, 1976	W, 2-0	North Texas
Sept. 21, 1977	W, 3-0	Nebraska
Sept. 11, 1978	L, 3-2	Minnesota
Sept. 13, 1979	L, 3-2	Texas A&M
Sept. 5, 1980	W, 3-0	North Texas
Sept. 4, 1981	W, 2-0	North Texas
Sept. 2, 1982	W, 3-0	Oral Roberts
Sept. 7, 1983	W, 3-0	Texas Wesleyan
Sept. 7, 1984	W, 3-2	Texas State
Sept. 12, 1985	W, 3-0	Texas Wesleyan
Sept. 9, 1986	L, 3-2	Stanford
Sept. 9, 1987	W, 3-0	North Texas
Sept. 7, 1988	W, 3-0	Prairie View A&M
Sept. 9, 1989	W, 3-1	Florida
Aug. 31, 1990	L, 3-0	Oklahoma
Aug. 30, 1991	W, 3-2	Wichita State
Sept. 4, 1992	L, 3-0	Georgia
Sept. 3, 1993	L, 3-0	UTEP
Sept. 2, 1994	L, 3-0	Clemson
Sept. 1, 1995	W, 3-0	Little Rock
Sept. 6, 1996	W, 3-1	TCU
Sept. 5, 1997	W, 3-0	Northeastern Illinois
Sept. 11, 1998	W, 3-0	UTRGV
Sept. 1, 1999	L, 3-0	Baylor
Sept. 4, 2000	L, 3-2	Wyoming
Aug. 31, 2001	W, 3-0	NC A&T
Sept. 20, 2002	W, 3-0	Nicholls State
Sept. 5, 2003	W, 3-1	Little Rock
Sept. 1, 2004	W, 3-2	Baylor
Sept. 9, 2005	L, 3-1	Iowa
Aug. 29, 2006	W, 3-2	TCU
Aug. 28, 2007	W, 3-1	Louisiana Tech
Sept. 10, 2008	L, 3-2	TCU
Sept. 12, 2009	L, 3-1	Little Rock
Sept. 3, 2010	W, 3-1	Little Rock
Sept. 16, 2011	W, 3-0	Louisiana-Lafayette
Aug. 24, 2012	W, 3-0	Savannah State
Aug. 30, 2013	W, 3-2	Abilene Christian
Aug. 29, 2014	W, 3-0	Incarnate Word
Aug. 28, 2015	W, 3-0	Campbell
Aug. 26, 2016	W, 3-2	Sam Houston
Aug. 25, 2017	W, 3-0	Southern
Aug. 31, 2018	W, 3-0	Air Force
Sept. 6, 2019	W, 3-0	Incarnate Word
Oct. 16, 2020	W, 3-2	Arkansas State
Sept. 3, 2021	L, 3-1	Tulsa
Sept. 2, 2022	W, 3-1	Texas A&M Commerce

 
BELIEVE IT OR NOT
The three-match winning streak for the Mavs has them tied for the nation's 13th-longest winning streak.
 

1.	Fordham	W5
	Mississippi State
	Texas Tech
	Kansas City
	Western Michigan
6.	BYU	W4
	Chicago State
	Hofstra
	Nebraska
	Temple
	UTSA
	Santa Clara
13.	UTA/52 others	W3

 
LEADERS IN THE WAC
The Mavs opened the season this past weekend by claiming the Amy Svoboda Memorial Classic title with wins over Bryant, Rhode Island and Air Force. They are the lone remaining undefeated team in the Western Athletic Conference as Grand Canyon, Seattle U, Stephen F. Austin and Southern Utah were next best at 2-1 apiece.
 
In terms of WAC rankings, several players are among the top 10 individuals in the conference statistically:
 
Paige Reagor's .459 hitting percentage is third.
Paige Reagor's 1.25 blocks per set ranks fourth.
Mollie Blank's 8.25 assists per set ranks seventh.
Briana Brown's 3.33 kills per set ranks fifth.
Briana Brown's 3.75 points per set ranks seventh.
 
As a team, UT Arlington currently ranks second in the conference in opponent hitting percentage (.156), third in assists per set (12.08) and fourth in kills per set (12.75) and blocks per set (2.46).
 
Defensively, the Mavs rank second in the WAC in hitting percentage allowed (.156), kills per set allowed (11.08) and assists per set allowed (10.42). They rank third in digs per set allowed (10.50) and fourth in aces per set allowed (1.17).
 
Among three-set matches by all conference teams over the weekend, Alli Wells (14vs Rhode Island) had the highest individual dig total.
 
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 has never lost to A&M Commerce, Rhode Island, Texas Southern and Air Force, going a combined 25-0 against those four, including 17-0 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

 
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.
 
NEW FACES ON STAFF
This offseason, head coach J.T. 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-year 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.
 
50 YEARS OF SEASON OPENERS
The Mavs improved 32-18-1 all-time in season openers, including a 10-3 record since 2011, with their season opening win over Bryant. A few other notes about this year's opener include:

• This year's opener in Colorado marked the second time that UT Arlington 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 tied for the fourth-earliest opener in program history behind the Aug. 24 start of the 2007, 2012 and 2018 teams.

SPEAK IT INTO EXISTENCE
Since 1987, there have been 24 instances of a UT Arlington volleyball player recording a triple-double, and there hasn't been one since Bianca Sauls tallied 10 kills, 10 assists and 13 digs against Southeastern Louisiana on Nov. 4, 2010.
 
Here's some interesting triple-double factoids:

• There has only been one triple-double in assists, digs and blocks, which was recorded by Emily Nedderman against TCU on Aug. 29, 2006.
• Shawn Sweeten, a setter who played her freshmen year at Texas Tech before helping lead the Mavs to a 1989 NCAA Final 4 appearance, holds the program's career record for most triple-doubles with eight.
• Nine different players have recorded at least one triple-double.
• There has never been a triple-double comprised of kills, assists and blocks.  

Here's a full list of all occurrences, by date:
 

Shawn Sweeten	13 kills, 49 assists, 10 digs	Oklahoma (9/12/87)
Shawn Sweeten	13 kills, 46 assists, 12 digs	Montana (9/18/87)
Shawn Sweeten	11 kills, 31 assists, 13 digs	Texas A&M (11/28/87)
Shawn Sweeten	11 kills, 66 assists, 33 digs	Arizona (11/26/88)
Jackie Bennett	22 kills, 21 digs, 11 blocks	Arizona (11/26/88)
Shawn Sweeten	15 kills, 87 assists, 13 digs	Pepperdine (12/3/88)
Shawn Sweeten	10 kills, 57 assists, 12 digs	Cal Poly (9/15/89)
Shawn Sweeten	10 kills, 45 assists, 12 digs	Syracuse (10/27/89)
Shawn Sweeten	11 kills, 89 assists, 20 digs	Penn State (11/24/89)
Tina Herring	12 kills, 14 assists, 18 digs	Texas State (11/18/94)
Melissa Robinett	11 kills, 10 digs, 11 blocks	Lamar (9/19/03)
Heather Dunn	11 kills, 60 assists, 11 digs	Nicholls State (11/1/03)
Caley Smith	16 kills, 18 digs, 10 blocks	Northwestern State (9/17/04)
Caley Smith	12 kills, 13 digs, 10 blocks	McNeese (9/24/04)
Heather Dunn	10 kills, 64 assists, 13 digs	Texas State (10/15/04)
Heather Dunn	10 kills, 54 assists, 12 digs	Nicholls State (11/12/04)
Emily Nedderman	12 kills, 46 assists, 13 digs	Sam Houston (10/28/05)
Emily Nedderman	49 assists, 10 digs, 10 blocks	TCU (8/29/06)
Emily Nedderman	11 kills, 59 assists, 10 digs	Duquesne (9/9/06)
Emily Nedderman	11 kills, 40 assists, 10 digs	Little Rock (9/16/06)
Emily Nedderman	10 kills, 40 assists, 12 digs	Lamar (10/14/06)
Emily Nedderman	10 kills, 46 assists, 11 digs	Univ. of Miami (9/1/07)
Raegan Daniel	10 kills, 28 assists, 10 digs	Portland (9/11/10)
Bianca Sauls	10 kills, 10 assists, 13 digs	SE Louisiana (11/4/10)

 
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
 
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