ARLINGTON, Texas --- The UT Arlington volleyball team (8-2) will look to keep an undefeated home record this weekend as the Mavs host a trio of long-time rivals in the UTA Invitational.
 
The action kicks off against North Texas on Thursday at 6 p.m. inside the College Park Center. Then, over the next two days, the venue will shift to the Arlington ISD Athletics Center for the final four matches where UTA will host McNeese and Texas A&M - Commerce.
 
The venue for Friday and Saturday was switched as a result of the WNBA's Dallas Wings hosting a playoff game at the College Park Center on Friday. For more info on the venue switch and all that comes with it, visit here.
 
BROADCAST/GAME DAY COVERAGE

• The match between UTA and North Texas on Thursday will still be aired on ESPN+.
• The UTA matches on both Friday and Saturday that were originally planned to air on ESPN+ are now expected to be streamed on WACInternational.tv. There is no cost; users just need to create a free account with an email address and password.
• The two neutral matches on both Friday and Saturday are also planned to air on WACInternational.tv.

UTA INVITATIONAL - HOW TO FOLLOW
Opening Serve	Opponent	Match Coverage
Thursday, 6 PM	UT Arlington vs. North Texas	Stream | Stats
Friday, 2:30 PM	North Texas vs. Texas A&M - Commerce	Stream | Stats
Friday, 6 PM	UT Arlington vs. McNeese	Stream | Stats
Saturday, 2:30 PM	McNeese vs. North Texas	Stream | Stats
Saturday, 6 PM	UT Arlington vs Texas A&M - Commerce	Stream | Stats
Game Notes: UT Arlington (PDF)	Game Notes: North Texas (PDF)	Game Notes: McNeese (PDF)

 
SITTING ON 99
UTA head coach J.T. Wenger is just one win shy of 100 in his career, which has included a 99-80 (.553) 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.
 
OLD RIVALS CLASH AGAIN
This weekend will signify the continuation of three of the oldest rivalries in program history. UTA is 54-11 all-time against North Texas, although the Mean Green have won four straight in the series, including a three-set victory last year. Meanwhile, Texas A&M - Commerce was the first-ever opponent for the Mavs, who own a 17-0 all-time record against the Lions dating back to 1973.
 
UTA's third opponent this weekend is McNeese, which the Mavs own a 35-15 all-time record against with wins in six straight.    
 
Digging deeper, the Mavs have 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
 
HOT START
This year's team became just the seventh in program history to start a season at least 6-0, joining the 2004 (6-0), 1987 (7-0), 1983 (6-0), 1981 (6-0), 1976 (6-0) and 1973 (7-0) teams.
 
DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS
With the team's win over Texas Southern on Sept. 12, UTA improved its all-time record against teams from the state of Texas to 535-294-6. The Mavs have played 42 different schools from Texas.
 
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 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 freshman 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:
 

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)

 
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 1,147-684-8 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.
 
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