Before I continue, I just want to get a warning in that there's a real chance my volleyball coverage will not be as frequent or regular as the past two years. I work half my work week on the weekend for my regular bill paying job, so getting to physically watch the games will be a challenge. I volunteered to be the booster club president for the junior high school two of my boys attend. While it isn't set in stone, it does look like they will both start for their respective grade. In addition, my junior in high school has transitioned from junior varsity starter to varsity starter. There's a real chance there will be very little down time. That's to say nothing of This Day in UTA Football History, which usually requires around two hours, sometimes more, per entry. This week's entry will be a repeat, so there's not much to it, giving me time to give the volleyball team and its players their proper due.
Plus, I'm already behind. Before I get into the weekend's start, the United Athletic Conference released their preseason poll and just by looking it over and knowing what occurred last year, there's a real chance this will be the toughest slate since UTA left the Sun Belt Conference.
1. Eastern Kentucky
2. Central Arkansas
3. Tarleton State
4. North Alabama
5. Abilene Christian
6. UTA
7. Austin Peay
8. Little Rock
9. West Georgia
Sixth seems a little low to me, but this isn't new territory for UTA. This is the fourth time in 15 years that UTA is amongst a group of unfamiliar schools. While the UAC is technically the same conference as the WAC, there is such a great membership turnover from last year that is feels like a new conference. Of the nine members, three are from last's years WAC, five are from the Atlantic Sun and Little Rock comes from the Ohio Valley. The ASUN folks are familiar with the four other schools and their own. There's a good chance that the ASUN teams maybe artificially inflated because of that. Regardless, this is another case of take with a grain of salt and I already take these at arms length.
It is worth noting that EKU got eight first place votes and UCA got the remaining one. The three WAC holdovers also voted for the ASUN teams, as did Little Rock. EKU also possessed the preseason player, defensive player and setter of the year. I highly doubt one school will land all three in November.
A familiar face in UT San Antonio was this year's opener. In a twist of fate, it was UTSA that kicked off the cracked armor I mentioned earlier when the Roadrunners swept the Mavericks last year to open their home tournament. After that UTSA loss, there were seven losses in eight matches, the worst stretch of last year. Included in those seven was a five-set loss to Prairie View A&M, a rare loss to a SWAC school. That was when I really knew last year was going to be a challenge.
On paper UTSA isn't a super tough opponent. They finished eighth in the American Athletic Conference last year and are pegged for a seventh spot this year. There's no turnover in the AAC, so the team looks fairly consistent from last year's version.
UTA won this time in four sets, 25-23, 13-25, 25-20 and 25-12. University of Arkansas declined to stream any matches their own team was not involved in so I don't have a visual report from this one, but from the box score, sophomore middle blocker Sophia Krichev played well, notching 13 kills and four blocks. Sophomore outside hitter Camryn McMinn added 11 kills while senior middle blocker Hana Aiana contributed 10. Defensively, senior libero Samantha Glenn had 19 digs and senior libero Lily Hopkins contributed 11 while senior outside hitter Evyn Snook had a double-digit tally of ten.
All but Hopkins is a returnee from last year. That was very refreshing to see. I know coaching changes are always volatile, and the portal era adds quite a bit of gasoline to that. Head coach Tania Schatow's second year has a bit more consistency than her first in that regard. Out of the 17 on the roster, six players were on the roster last year while four are freshman. In an anomaly, one is a sophomore with no prior post-high-school experience. Of the six transfers, two came from the community college level, one came from Division II and the remaining three from Division I.
The second match of the Razorback Invitational was a five-set win against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. On the surface, this could be a problem match in that the Cougars are picked sixth in the Ohio Valley Conference, which tends to be a lower third volleyball conference. Like the previous match, I watched it on gametracker and it really appeared to be two teams that were ready to slug it out against the other. UTA lost the first set, 22-25, but won the second, 25-25-20. They were out of sorts early on, trailing by 5-6 for much of the match, They did find a higher gear, snagging five of the last eights points.
That run set the stage for the set I really want to focus on. Trailing 23-20 late in the fourth set, kills by McMinn, Snook and an SIUE attack error tied the match. The Cougars got the next for match point, but Snook again knotted it up with another kill. SIUE would have match point two more times and Snook got the tying kill each time. An attack error from the Cougars gave UTA is first match point, but SIU tied it. McMinn then got the next two for the set win and stave off the loss, 29-27.
UTA took control of set five after tying it at 2, maintaining a rough three-point lead for most of it, ultimately building the advantage to 13-7. Credit to the Cougars for not giving up as the final was 15-12, getting UTA to another 2-0 start.
3-0 would be a tough task as the host and Southeastern Conference Arkansas Razorbacks awaited UTA. Tabbed as the last-place team, they still were the favorites by a mile.
But early on, UTA held tough. In the first set, UTA was within two most of the way, It wasn't until Arkansas git their 17th point that they built a bigger lead. Even then, it didn't get past three until the Razorbacks scored their 21st point. Ultimately, UTA lost 20-25.
The story was similar in set two. In fact, UTA had an 11-7 lead at one point. UA rattled off four to tie, the teams would trace points from there until UTA was up 20-19. After a couple of UA points, it was tied at 21 until Arkansas went on a mini run to win set two 22-25.
Again, in the third, UTA held tough with a lead near the halfway mark of 10-9. A 6-1 run gave Arkansas the lead permanently and the SEC size was too much in a 17-25 set loss.
What I can say is the team looked better to me than last year, even though the only sets I've seen are losses. The fight was there in every set and looking at the box score there's only been one out of sync/ I don't know how that will translate to the rest of the year, but I'm more optimistic now than at the same time in 2025.
Up next is the UTA Tournament featuring Kent Statre of the Mid-American Conference, Army of the Patriot League and Sam Houston of Conference USA. The Golden Flashes and Mavs square of at 6 pm today while the other two matches occur Saturday, the Cadets at 11 am and the Bearkats at 6 pm.
We'll have a little better idea of where this team is overall by Sunday and know whether the opening weekend was a fluke or a sign of things to come.
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