The Slide Continues

I didn't post about the UT Arlington volleyball team last week because they played only one match against the worst team in the Western Athletic Conference. They swept Southern Utah, which I said in the most recent volleyball post that UTS needed to sweep SUU for the Mavericks to be in contention for a second WAC title. However, sets two and three were too close for a WAC contender. UTA held the Thunderbirds to 13 in the first set, but 20 and then 21 in the last two. 

Looking at the box score, offensively, UTA did very well. The top three UTA kill leaders would have led SUU. Same with assists, which is understandable as they go hand-in-hand with kills. Blocks were about even. UTA continued to excel in aces against their opponent. What stood out to me was digs. Junior libero Samantha Glenn has been doing well all season and recorded 21 in three sets. After her though, the team only grabbed 23. Glenn had almost as many as the rest of the team combined. Two Mavericks logged six digs, one kept four balls alive and no other Mav grabbed more than two.

That may be the biggest difference from last year. UTA could count on three to five ladies to keep the ball alive at any given time.

After the SUU win, the Mavs were 1-0 in conference play and had the two remaining Texas WAC schools left. And the bottom dropped out.

This past Thursday, the Mavs traveled an hour to Stephenville for a match against the Tarleton State Texans. The preseason 6th place team in the seven-school conference beat the Mavs in five sets on their home floor. What once was an advantage, winning set five a total of four times in a row to start the season has turned sour, now losing four in a row. More concerning, the last sets are getting increasingly lopsided against the Mavericks. UTA scored seven against North Texas, 15 against Prairie View A&M (that is more lopsided due to the opponent), 12 against North Florida and 8 against the Texans. The Mavs won set two and set three 27-25 and 25-20. They lost set one by three and scored 23 in set four. 

In the fourth set, UTA could have closed out the Texans as they led by five, 14-9. Tarleton outscored UTA 16-9 the rest of the way, including a 5-0 run to tie the match. That has been way too common a theme this year and I'm still not quite sure why.

Digs again became the apparent Achilles heel. Three Mavs were tied for the lead in digs with a grand total of 12 digs each in five sets. Yes, only 12, or less than three per set. That hurts. Badly. Tarleton meanwhile, had the match leader with 23 and two more players tied at 11. It's similar to a football offense that scores 30 a game, but the defense gives up 35. As a team, UTA had more kills (55-54) and aces (14-8) than TSU, but were out-blocked (13-18) and out-dug (68-74). I'm honestly surprised the dig disparity wasn't larger.

It was also the first loss to a WAC team since the conference tournament in 2023.

In what could have been just what the team needed, UTA played on Saturday at home against the preseason-fifth-place team in Abilene Christian. UTA was 2-1 at home to that point this year after an undefeated home slate last year. Instead, College Park Center was the scene of another disappointment.

After only scoring 17 in a first set loss, the Mavs rebounded with a 25-20 win in the second. In the previous 20 matches between the two schools, UTA won 15 and tied another (which could happen in the 1970's). ACU instead looked like the dominant team in this series winning the remaining two sets with little competition, 16-25 and 17-25.

Other than blocks (6-4), UTA trailed in every other statistical category. In kills, it was 42-55. In digs, the margin was actually closer, 50-54. In aces, it was 5-9. UTA trailed in assists, 40-52. It was the worst home performance considering opponent (ACU was 6-11 overall and 0-2 in the WAC entering the match) since at least 2019.

I mentioned concerns prior that UTA may not be in the top three in WAC play. After this past week, they may battle Southern Utah for last place. The Thunderbirds beat California Baptist and have the same record as UTA and will host the Mavs in a little over a month. Early on, it looks like there are three tiers in the conference. Utah Tech and Utah Valley in in the first tier. Tech won at home on Saturday. CBU, ACU and Tarleton seem like the they will battle for the middle three spots and UTA looks to be no better than sixth if things don't change.

While we knew things would not replicate last year, which was stacked with so many graduate students, this isn't the encore to a dual championship season Mav faithful were hoping for at the start of the year.

After playing the projected bottom three teams in the WAC and going 1-2, things stiffen the next few matches. UTA hits the road and takes on the preseason favorites in Utah Valley on Thursday. On Saturday, they stay on the coast for an afternoon affair at California Baptist. I'm hopeful the Mavs can break the skid, 1-6 since their first loss. If they do, they will shake the standings up. If not, it will be an uphill climb to get out of the cellar.