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.
The broadcast made mention that CBU had experienced injuries in the early part of the season, causing their 0-12 non-conference start. Still, they their record was 4-8 in the WAC after the match. They may be one of the better teams in the bottom half of the conference, but it is still in the bottom half. They aren't a team to be overlooked in the tournament as they could pick a team off. As UTA couldn't sweep them in two tries, there may be merit to that point.
Freshman Outside Hitter Sjakkie Donkers set a career high in kills as she led the team with 21. Those were set up by Graduate Student Setter Mollie Blank as she delt 43 assists. Sophomore Libero Samantha Glenn recorded 19 digs. Graduate Senior Middle Blocker Paige Reagor recorded five blocks. All these were match highs as well.
Monday saw Abilene Christian come to Arlington, a team the Mavs swept in October. The result was the same as the Mavs allowed 21, 17 and 19 in the home sweep. The offense was smooth, but the Wildcats had a hard time cracking the Mavs defense. ACU scored 57 total points, of which 20 were combined attack and service errors from the Mavericks. Those numbers aren't out of a statistically anomalies but illustrates the Mavs efficiency on both ends.
For the first time that I can remember this year, Graduate Student Outside Hitter Brianna Ford was shut out of the leaderboard in at least one stat category on Saturday. She returned against ACU with a match-high 13 kills, Blank logged 27 assists, Glenn again dug the ball 19 times. Sophomore Sophie Ocampo, listed as an Outside Hitter, but playing a Middle Blocker role more and more, tied with Donkers for three blocks. Again, all were match highs.
Blank earned the WAC Setter of the Week for her efforts against CBU and ACU. It was her third straight weekly award.
I've have been really pleased with the overall consistency this Mavs team has displayed all year. That hasn't dipped, though there has been an occasional crack here and there. The fact that Ford had an off game, after an amazing effort against the same team on the road, and they still cruised to a 3-1 win speaks volumes to their efforts. Ford is on pace for the Player of the Year, and the Mavs won without her leading in kills or digs. That's incredible.
UTA faces Utah Valley on Homecoming Saturday. UVU is one of only two WAC teams to take UTA to five sets in Orem, Utah on October 26. First serve is scheduled for 11 am, to coincide with the men's basketball game later at 5 pm. It is also senior day, though it won't be the last game at College Park Center as the Mavs host the WAC tournament.
The Wolverines are solidly in fourth place at 7-5. It starts a challenging end to the conference schedule as three of the last four matches are against teams at or above the mid-point of the WAC standings.
On Monday, they'll travel down I-20 to Stephenville for a 6 pm match against Tarleton State. At 2-10 in conference play, the Texas would love to score an upset against their closest geographic rivals (as the crow flies) to upset UTA's bid for perfection.
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