Officially in Last

Two more matches resulted in two more losses for the UT Arlington volleyball squad this past weekend as the losing streak was extended to four in a row, all matches within the Western Athletic Conference. UTA needs one match to reach the halfway point of WAC play and UTA is tied for sixth, which is essentially last place at this point.

The Mavericks started the week against the preseason favorites. The Utah Valley road match, or maybe neutral match as their gym was unavailable, was going to be a tough test. BYU lent their gym and while UTA made spurts, it was clear the Wolverines were the better team. Watching the match, it was clear that UVU controlled the net. They were able to effect UTA's offensive game and rack up points on the defensive side of the net. The Wolverines logged 15 blocks. UTA recorded one.

As the set scores were 16-25, 24-26, 21-25, those 15 blocks were huge. Now, UVU is one of the best blockers in the country from a pure numbers standpoint. The digs disparity I mentioned last week was still present. UVU notched 52 to the Mavericks 47. This was a great example about how important a piece Paige Reagor was to the Mavericks the last couple of years.

UTA FB History: Vol. 9 Gm. 6 - No Better Example

Most every year of This Day in UTA Football History contains 12 games. As today is the halfway point, it seems odd that one year of only a three-season rotation hasn't been introduced. That was done by design. I've pointed out dozens of times over the years how poorly run the UTA football program was in the 1970's.

While there were ancillary, outside factors that also played a part, such as the Rebel to Maverick mascot controversy, changing demographics of the campus to a more commuter campus and suppressed interest from the outside community, the UT Arlington Athletic Department surely did as much or more to shoot themselves in the foot. 

I contend that interest still would have been higher had the team stayed at Memorial Stadium, currently on the site of the Maverick Activities Center. The site is visible to the entirety of campus, unlike Maverick Stadium today, and was easily accessible via Cooper Street, also unlike Maverick Stadium which is tucked off Mitchell Street.

In 1965, UTA averaged 85 percent capacity of 10,022-seat Memorial Stadium. In 1966, it was 87 percent, '67 rose to 92 percent, same in '68 and a small drop to 84 percent in its final year hosting a UTA football team.

But even on pure numbers, no season in Turnpike, later Arlington Stadium, reached the same highs. 

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.

UTA FB History: Vol. 9 Gm. 5 - Returning Home

The last time we checked into the 1980 UT Arlington football team, they started the season 0-2 after a loss to Northwestern State with a date looming against national powerhouse Southern Methodist University.

Resetting the stage. 1980 was the first year Maverick Stadium opened. The year prior, the Mavs were 9-2 and one point away from an Independence Bowl bid and a Southland Conference title. Momentum was high and if the cards were played right, this really could have set the program up for long-term success.

Instead, after a thumping to debut the stadium, they went on the road for two games and had a bye week, mirroring the problems with how the program was run in the 1970's. A month into the season and UTA was 0-3 with only one home game, a loss at that.

I'll reveal a little more than I normally would and say today's home game drew 6,328. The opponent was the Drake Bulldogs, who really wouldn't draw for the local crowd on name alone. However, the momentum I mentioned should have been enough, but that 0-3 first month was a disaster for the gate. Of six home games in the debut year, this was the third lowest. That is bad using any metric for the second game of the season.

There's no way to verify this belief, but I'd bet if this game were the second game of the season against Drake, or the Northwestern State game played in Natchitoches was put it in Arlington the second week of the year, the crowd would have been larger. I don't know if it would have been five digits large, but 8,000 plus or over 9,000 doesn't seem far-fetched to me. 

Instead, they gave fans and supporters the same feelings and circumstances as the previous decades of futility. "There's always next year," to start October is a poor way to generate excitement or even build a foundation of excitement.

Low energy and all, on this day in UTA football history, the Mavericks host the Drake Bulldogs in 1980.

Taken from the Dallas Morning News, October 5th, 1980.

As for the fantasy 1986 season, today's opponent was scheduled to be ... no one. UTA was slated for a bye week with a probable 3-1 record or better. However, it did not happen on this date in UTA football history.

UTA FB History: Vol. 9 Gm. 4 - Home Sweet Home?

As September comes to a close, this day in UTA football history looks at the 1969 team for the first time, sort of. Last week's entry was a link to the 2014 counterpart that opened the season, a 17-3 win. Back in the 1960's, the football season often started after the halfway mark of this month. 

I'll let last week's version set the stage for the year, but I do want to add some refreshers. The 1960's were the most successful decade in UTA football history, and it isn't close. In this decade, the Mavericks were 57-42-1, a winning percentage of .575. And that's with one win in 1963 and three wins in '64.

To compare, in the 1970's, UTA had a winning percentage of .370 while the shortened decade of the 1980's was .432. No doubt that number would have been better after 1986, as we'll discuss in a moment. 

Ouch!

The Maverick Rambler has mentioned several times this year that it seemed the UT Arlington volleyball team was playing with fire, losing sets to teams they should not have. Though they won most of the matches prior to this weekend, it wasn't pretty. There has been one sweep this year and on paper, there should have been more if this is a conference championship contending team. All that came to a head this past weekend. I gave my fears more than fuel about how the next two months in conference play will shake out.

I don't say this lightly, but this may have been the worst weekend in program history from a performance standpoint. I mentioned in the last volleyball post that the team would travel to San Antonio to participate in UTSA's Roadrunner Classic. The participating teams weren't stacked but should have been on UTA's general level.

The tournament started out poorly as the Mavericks and the hosts squared off. As I said, these two squads should have been near parity, but the Roadrunners won the match in a sweep. Only the second set was close, if a four-point loss is considered close. At 15-25, 21-25 and 13-25, the Roadrunners dominated. 

While some content that UTSA elevation into the American Athletic Conference makes this less of competitive match, UTA volleyball is a premiere sport on campus. It is the only fall team sport. Top 50 if not 25 all-time winning percentage across the entirety of the NCAA, appeared in a national championship postseason tournament 17 times since its founding, another two Invitational postseason tournaments and has produced numerous All-Americans all mean a little more than just conference pecking order. Especially when one considers the success attained last year. UTA faithful would not be surprised with a win against any school. 

But, the weekend was still salvageable and UTA could ride into Western Athletic Conference play on a high note. But it went the exact opposite way.

UTA FB History: Vol. 9 Gm. 3 - Repeat

For those who follow the Maverick Rambler's This Day in UTA Football History, you know I try to follow a few general rules. Unfortunately, one of those will be broken today. Specifically, I try to avoid multiple games in a row from the same season. I just have no other choice.

There are two things working against me in this week. First, to refresh, there are only three season to choose from. That in and of itself makes that guideline difficult. But, as for today specifically, it is one of only two dates I can recall between the second week in September and the second to last week in November to have only one game. It is uncommon to have a bye week in September. However, 1975 and 1980 both had a bye week today.

Ironically, the first season to qualify, 1969, is the only game that was every played by an Arlington State / UT Arlington football team on September 20.