Volleyball Mavs in the Postseason

 Selection for the NCAA volleyball tournament occurred this weekend and the Western Athletic Conference's tournament champions, Grand Canyon, knew they were in while Stephen F. Austin, the regular season champs, were a solid bubble team. Both teams were announced in the field, giving the WAC two teams in the tourney for the first time since 2010.

Both teams will be playing on the road as SFA goes to Fayetteville to play third seed Arkansas while GCU travels to Pullman with a date against the fourth seed Cougars of Washington State.

While I will occasionally go in the topic of the WAC, this blog is mainly a focus on the goings on of a campus in Arlington (not to be confused with the conference office now in Arlington). Nice for the conference to land those two are in the big dance, but the UT Arlington volleyball squad received an invite to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship, or NIVC.

Early Returns

I intentionally wanted to wait a few games after the UT Arlington mem's basketball match-up with Oral Roberts as I was very excited after the UTA Mavericks defeated the Golden Eagles 75-71. There was an excitement around this team that I haven't felt in a half decade. Of course, much of it had to do with the hiring of K.T. Turner as the head man, but many of the folks I've talked to have said the head man assembled a very talented team.

I also fully expected a home loss to ORU, as they have been one of the top mid-major basketball teams the last few years. They have a sweet sixteen appearance three years ago and won the Summit League with a perfect conference record en route to 30 wins last year. The conference expected them to repeat the championship this year.

The Mavs went toe-to-toe with the Golden Eagles in the first half before a late spurt gave ORU a five-point lead. In recent years, Mav fans would have been happy with a moral victory of hanging tough with a quality opponent. But that's not what the team was thinking this time. 

After a rough start to the second half, where Oral Roberts extended their lead to 11, UTA began chipping away before permanently getting the lead with five minutes remaining. Every opponent run was answered quickly and I haven't seen UTA trade blows like this in quite a while.

UTA FB History: Vol. 7 Gm. 13 - Ending on a Redundant High

 Like the start of this year's edition, the end of the 2023 edition of This Day in UTA Football History will end with a game that has already been covered. The 1972 Mavericks started the year 0-5, all five were blowouts with an average losing score of 34 to less than 15. Southern Mississippi, Oklahoma State, Toledo, TCU and Louisiana Tech were the victors.

In week six, the Mavericks traveled to Las Cruces and lost to New Mexico State 17-12. That close loss sparked a change in the rest of the season. Wins soon followed against Southwestern Louisiana, now Louisiana or Louisiana-Lafayette (7-0), at Abilene Christian (36-22), West Texas A&M (20-7) and at Lamar (10-3). A home date against Arkansas State remained and a win would earn the Mavericks second place in the conference.

All that was discussed more in detail in 2017. What wasn't discussed much was Maverick running back Dexter Bussey. He ultimately became one of the best Maverick running backs of all-time. Consider this: Bussey is fifth all-time in yards rushing (1,908) and carries (436), is fourth in touchdowns (16) and third in 100-yard games (9). He holds the single-game rushing record at 225, set against Abilene Christian. And he essentially did it at just two seasons of work.

UTA FB History: Vol. 7 Gm. 12 - Case of the Fumbles

It has been a while since this year's series of This Day in UTA Football History has looked at the 1978 squad, ten weeks to be precise. These repeat seasons were tougher to cover than the first time around and I try to avoid that. But obviously there are a limited number of games. Additionally, the 1978 team is one of the most fascinating to me. But that's the way it goes when trying to coordinate several seasons, so here's the season recap. 

UT Arlington started the season with a preseason ranking of third of six in the Southland Conference. Louisiana Tech and Arkansas State were picked ahead. When the 1978 squad last appeared, they were fresh off a one touchdown loss to West Texas State to drop to 0-2 for the young season.

The annual North Texas game at Texas Stadium came in week three. North Texas raced to a 28-10 lead. Quarterback Roy Dewalt began the attempted comeback with less than six minutes left in the game as he led two quick TD drives with a combined 75 yards passing and one TD to tight end Jerry Woodard. Bill McClesky added another TD on the ground. The Mavs got an on-sides recovery, an extra point, but missed a two-point attempt, and also a quick defensive stop led to a punt to get the score to 23-28. However, when the Mavs were trying their last drive to take a lead, Dewalt threw an interception, his third of the night, to seal their fate. The Mavs lowered their fumbles lost to two (compared to four in both games prior) but couldn't overcome five total turnovers.

UTA FB History: Vol. 7 Gm. 11 - As Good a Competitive Rivalry as Ever

We stick with the 1967 UT Arlington Rebels football team for the second straight week as the 2023 edition of This Day in UTA Football History proceeds. Two weeks ago, Trinity was the opponent, a foe UTA started Southland Conference play in six of the eight years they shared a home. The SLC expanded the final year of the Tigers stay and they were the second SLC opponent that year.

Last week, Abilene Christian College (now known as ACU) was featured. Like Trinity, they were in the early portion of conference. They followed Trinity on the conference schedule for six of the nine years they shared a conference. Early conference games are important for a championship run, but don't stick in the memory year in and year out like the later games do.

Speaking of later games, after last week's win over ACC, the Rebs were 7-1, with a 2-0 conference mark. Up next was the Arkansas State Indians. The preseason favorites to win conference were struggling a little more than expected with a 3-4 record, though the toughness of the schedule makes the record a bit deceiving. In the SLC, the Indians lost on the road to defending co-champs Lamar 28-23 and beat ACC and had a 1-1 mark. Even tougher for UTA was they were playing in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

Attendance High

With the Seattle match in the books, the UT Arlington volleyball squad concluded its home schedule for the 2023 season. While the conference portion has contained a bit of a disappointment, there team has set a record that I'll end the post with. 

First, a mild recap. The team held its own against the majority of teams they should have. The earned a road sweep over Utah Valley, road wins against Seattle (3-1), Southern Utah (3-2) and an upset over UT Rio Grande Valley (3-1). They had home wins over California Baptist (3-0), Tarleton (3-2), Utah Valley (3-1) and Seattle (3-0).

The had a few losses to teams that the Mavericks are superior to on paper. A road and home loss to Stephen F. Austin (0-3 and 1-3 respectively) along with home losses to Grand Canyon and UTRGV (1-3 in both) weren't unexpected. However, UTA was upset twice and it is really putting a damper in the standings for the Mavs. Abilene Christian and Utah Tech followed the same formula as the Mavericks went up 2-0, before losing the last three sets. The set scores for the ACU match were 25-19, 25-13, 20-25, 22-25, 15-17 while the Trailblazers were 25-21, 25-22, 19-25, 13-25 and 10-15.

UTA FB History: Vol. 7 Gm. 10 - Marching On

After the newly-named UT Arlington football program beat McNeese State in 1967, the Rebels kept cruising along. The following game against Tarleton State was an easy Reb win, 37-7. The following game was the Southland Conference opener against Trinity University, a 31-16 win. The win upped the season mark to 6-0, and just as importantly, 1-0 in SLC play.

The final game of October was a bit brutal as the Rebels never led on the road in Canyon, Texas and the 37-27 final score loss to University Division West Texas State was the first blemish on the season. UTA set several offensive records along the way, but the defense had a hard time stopping the Buffalo rushing attack, including a future NFL star in Eugene "Mercury" Morris. 

With the first loss of the season in the books, the Rebels were looking to avoid the first losing streak of the season as they entered today's game.