Instant Classic

The UT Arlington Mavericks volleyball team is not only the Western Athletic Conference regular seasons champs, but the Tournament champs after Saturday's win against Grand Canyon University in the championship game.

It was a memorable weekend, one that would likely have an impact on the top ten moments entry, UTA competed in an instant classic in the championship match. It culminated three days of intense volleyball at College Park Center, and not just in matches involving UTA. 

The Mavericks opened the weekend against Abilene Christian in the one/eight seed match. Continuing the sweeps from the prior two matches of the year, UTA swept the Wildcats, winning 25-17, 25-18, 25-14. It was the exact dominant performance the average fan would expect from the first game or match of any sports tournament featuring the same seeds. It showed to me UTA was ready and came on a mission. 

However, after the first round was complete, I became very apprehensive.

Hoops at the Start Line

 It has been an interesting start to the 2024/25 basketball season for both the men and women. As it stands, basketball for either gender may be the hardest sports to determine how they will fare when evaluating the team in the offseason as well as the early portion of the non-conference season. The transfer portal just decimates rosters and creates a turnover unprecedented in the history of the NCAA.

I have been watching the games, wondering how to evaluate both of them. I don't want the appearance of ignoring either squad, so I'll just dive into the UT Arlington men's basketball team and follow one for the women soon. I'm going to try a different style with them and see which I like.

The men have faced two non-Division I teams at home, easily one of the ten best teams not in a Power 5 conference and two DI road games. I challenge anyone to look at those factors and come to a conclusion about a team.

UTA FB History: Vol. 8 Gm. 12 - It Ends Here

The final entry of This Day in UTA Football History is fairly straightforward when all qualifying seasons are on the table. In 2013, the final game of 1985, and therefore the program, occurred on this day in that season, as it was in the inaugural year of this blog. 

However, since it was covered in 2013, there were some interesting options on the table this year, though none were just outwardly striking. In 1963, the Arlington State Rebels lost to the Trinity Tigers 12-7 in San Antonio. That wrapped up a 1-8 season. In 1968, the UT Arlington Rebels beat the Lamar Tech Cardinals 37-20 to wrap up a 6-4, 3-1 mark in the Southland Conference. The prior game knocked the Rebs out of contention of the outright SLC championship race and dropped them out of the national polls. I still contend, looking at the stats, rosters and schedule results, the 1968 Rebels were one of the best all-time teams that ran into a couple of bad luck scenarios. 

But the game I will feature today is the finale of the 1974 Mavericks, though at the time, what would make this game distinct had yet to show itself.

Postseason Accolades

I mentioned in the comments of the last volleyball post that the UT Arlington Mavericks squad should be well represented. The awards and all-conference teams were announced by the Western Athletic Conference today and as a whole, it came to fruition.

I'll start with Player of the Year. While some teams had an impact player or two, it is hard to suppress what graduate student Brianna Ford did at her outside hitter position. She led the WAC in kills, kills per set, points and was fourth in hitting percentage, sixth in blocks, seventh in aces, ninth in blocks per set and tenth in digs. Were she playing on another team, some of those numbers would likely be higher as UTA spread the wealth around. UTA would have been good without her, but her presence on both the offensive and defensive side is what propelled the Mavs to their highest win total in three and a half decades.

Ford is the ninth Player of the Year in program history and the first since Olaya Pazo in 2002. 

Postseason Time

The regular season has concluded for all volleyball programs in the Western Athletic Conference. For the first time since a nine-match conference slate in the Southland Conference in 1992, UT Arlington has run the gamut undefeated.

Coming into the week, or rather, since my last blog post, UTA beat Tarleton for a 14-0 conference mark. With a Utah trip on the schedule, the Mavs were looking to make a mark in the history books.

Southern Utah has been on a slide of late and hosted on Thursday. The Thunderbirds took a set from UTA in Arlington and repeated that feat again, with UTA taking the other three sets. After a less-than-comfortable 25-21 set win, the Mavs and 'birds went toe-to-toe in set two, with neither team getting more than a three-point lead. At the end of the set, SUU staved off two set points for UTA and then claimed the set on their first try for a 26-24 win. They ended on a 4-0 run.

That appeared to upset UTA as the final two sets were won by 11 points each time and UTA moved one match away from perfection. 

UTA FB History: Vol. 8 Gm. 11 - Last One Out, Get the Lights

I've said it before when referencing the 1985 UT Arlington football squad that I have a morbid fascination with this team. The overall record of 4-6-1 is misleading. There's a real chance this is the best team that won only four games in UTA history. With maybe the exception of the 1978 team, 1985 could be the best six loss team. Of course, as most of us know, this was also the last year of the program. I think it was that misleading record that contributed to the ultimate doom of the program, at least when looking at the micro scale of a singular season.

The beginning of October was the last time the 2024 edition of This Day in UTA football checked in with the 1985 squad. They had just beaten Wichita State. That win upped the record to 2-2 on the year. The 31-3 win would be the biggest margin of victory on the year.

The following week, six turnovers cost the squad as a 10-7 fourth quarter lead turned into a 21-10 loss at Drake. There were just some teams that had UTA's number. Drake was one of them. At 0-3 all-time, the Mavs never figured out their number. The Bulldogs were never really a consistent winner, UTA could never just get past them. Had the Mavs who beat Wichita State showed up against Drake, it would have been another UTA win.

Lamar came to Arlington for homecoming the following week. As I'll go into greater detail next week, Lamar was a team that was opposite of Drake. UTA just had their number. The 37-17 win improved UTA to 3-3, and just as importantly, 1-0 in Southland Conference play.

That conference record would jump to 2-0 to end October. Northeast Louisiana, or Louisiana-Monroe today, came to Arlington and for the second year in a row, the Mavs knocked them off, 27-13. For the first time on the season, UTA sported more wins than losses at 4-3. They were in the driver's seat in SLC play at 2-0.

Then the wheels fell off. 

Championship a Long Time Coming

 Coming into this academic year, there was a paradox on campus for the UT Arlington Mavericks. One team sport dominates all the others for conference championships and postseason wins. However, that same team sport had the longest drought between conference titles.

At 12, this program was second to all UTA sports in the conference title tally, with the men's tennis team taking the lead with 13 thanks to two WAC titles in a row. Men's indoor track was tied at 12 while the outdoor squad and women's tennis had 11.

Coming in, all those previous teams kept adding titles with the last decade or less. The program in question hadn't won a title in the previous 21 seasons. But no longer.

UTA FB History: Vol. 8 Gm. 10 - Divergent Paths

The 1968 UT Arlington Rebels make their third and final appearance today in the 2024 edition of This Day in UTA Football History. This is the second time 1968 has appeared in the series, with the first coming in 2013. In that year, I mentioned this was one of my favorite seasons ever. One of my favorite games of all time comes next week, but I'll link it here. It was a classic for the ages. 

The last look at the 1968 Rebels this year was a game against McNeese State. The win against the Cowboys moved their season record to 3-2. After the win, the Coaches poll had UTA at number 14 whereas the AP poll had the Rebs at 12th.

The next week was UTA's second game against a higher Division opponent, a 41-0 loss to West Texas State. The Buffaloes were one of the better University Division teams during 1968 and the loss didn't drop UTA's ranking much, 20th in coaches and 19th in the AP. 

While the 3-3 record on the surface was disappointing, the fact that two were to a higher division opponent and a third was a narrow loss to the defending national champions gave comfort to UTA fans.

Running like a New Machine

The UT Arlington volleyball team flipped the schedule from Thursday/Saturday matches to Saturday/Monday matches this week, but the result stayed steady as the Mavericks grabbed two wins against California Baptist and Abilene Christian. 

CBU took the Mavs to five sets in Riverside, California earlier in the year. CBU is one of the few teams in the Western Athletic Conference UTA has not swept. Southern Utah and Utah Valley are the others, though UTA has only played once.

It looked like the Mavs would cruise early in the match as they took the first set 25-17. UTA looked in control and like they were operating smoothly. The passes were clean and the attacks were on target. But set two looked like CBU ironed out their offense as they had a hitting percentage near a third. UTA's defense looked a step behind and the score was flipped 18-25. Set three and four saw a return to the first set as the Mavs allowed 18 and 19 points en route to a 3-1 match win.

UTA FB History: Vol. 8 Gm. 9 - Homecoming Game

As the UT Arlington Athletic Department prepares for homecoming week today, This Day in UTA Football History will take a peek at 1963 season's homecoming match.

Back in the days of the Arlington State College / UTA football program, homecoming centered around the football game. Nowadays, the University has done a good job of incorporating all three team sports in the week-long festivities. Today, the Volleyball team hosts California Baptist. Monday, the men's basketball team opens the season with a mid-day game against North Texas-Dallas while volleyball team will play Abilene Christian at College Park Center in the evening. On Thursday, the women's basketball team plays Arlington Baptist at 6:30 pm. On Saturday, volleyball has a mid-day match against Utah Valley while the men's basketball guys take on Louisiana Tech at 5 pm.

There are other myriad activities as well that include students getting involved in the University. This link shows many of those activities.

Back in the day, there were other various events, notably a bonfire and a football game. Other events came and went. Others like Bed Races or Oozeball had staying power, though aren't exclusively homecoming anymore. When I was a student, homecoming occurred in February. There have been changes over the years, but I can't think of a better way than how it is now. If a football resurrection occurs in the future, I hope nothing changes in the current line-up and the just add a football game to the lineup.