Small Speed Bump

The UT Arlington volleyball team finished the fourth weekend of the current season and there's nothing I saw that changed the outlook for the season. UTA finished the previous three weekends of three-game tournaments with wins in all matches. That didn't happen this time around and no one but the most homer of homer fans would have expected something similar.

This week's tournament took place in Fort Worth for the Horned Frog Invitational. In a change of pace, the first match was Tuesday. I was surprised to see there were no midweek matches this year. No Tuesday affair against North Texas, Stephen F. Austin, Texas State or other geographically close University. While technically not a true mid-week match, it did have that feel

For the first time I can remember, TCU was ranked in the top 25 at the start of the match. In a testament to how well volleyball is doing in Dallas/Fort Worth, SMU, who does not appear on the schedule, is also ranked. At this point in time, all three schools are a combined 25-7. North Texas has played a tough schedule en route to 3-8 record, but 0-5 versus Power 5 teams. 

All tangents aside, the Horned Frogs swept the Mavericks. While I wasn't holding my breath for a win, I was hoping there would be a set in the Mavs favor. TCU did what you'd expect a ranked team to do and cruised, allowing the Mavs 11, 17 and 12 points in those three sets.

There were bright spots. No Mav scored in double digit kills, but sophomore Samantha Glenn had 10 digs. While UTA was a national powerhouse in the 1980's, they aren't at that level now. They can still be a good program, but this is generally what ranked teams do to unranked teams. 

The weekend started with a Friday match against Rice, the preseason favorites out of the American Athletic Conference. Of the 12 non-conference matches, this is the only one I would like a second chance. It was a back and forth affair in all four sets, an eventual Mav loss. 

The first set was as tight as you could get. Near the end, UTA held a 24-23 lead. Brianna Ford, the graduate senior outside hitter and arguably the engine of the team, committed a service error to tie the match. The Owls would get the next two points to take set one, 24-26. 

Set two was close early, with UTA and Rice within a point or two until the Owls crossed the double-digit mark. Then they scored two points for every one Mav point for a 20-15 lead. The teams would keep pace for the remainder, a 25-19 Rice win.

Set three was another close affair and with UTA clinging to a 21-20 lead, graduate senior setter Mollie Blank contributed a block assist (along with graduate student middle block Paige Reagor), and a service ace as part of a 3-0 run to seal the 25-22 win.

Set four saw more of the same back and forth, but it appeared the Mavs ran out of gas late. They trailed five, but used a 5-1 run to close the gap to 20-22. Rice closed it out with three straight points for the match win. 

Ford led in kills, 21, and digs, 20. Blank did her assist thing with 42, but also led the team in blocks with 4. 

UTA closed the tourney with a sweep of the one-time, one-season WAC rival Denver Pioneers. 25-20, 25-22, 25-15. The Mavs got to a big lead at 13-3 in the first set, including a 9-0 run. They cruised the rest of the way to win by five. The second was more of what I expected, a back and forth affair. After it was tied late, they used a 3-0 run to take set two. The first third of set the last set saw UTA trailing by a small margin. Three 4-0 runs and a 3-0 one to end the third, and the match, gave the Mavs the tenth victory of this campaign.

The Horned Frog Invitational was the toughest of the four tournaments UTA has been a part of in 2024, unquestionably. As mentioned, TCU is ranked, 22nd as of today, and now are 8-2 on the year. Both of those losses were to top 10 teams. Rice is now 5-4, with three of the four losses to ranked teams. They also won a set versus TCU. Denver, predicted the second-best team in the Summitt League, is 5-5. Interesting to me, they have a 2-3 loss to Utah Tech.

UTA opens Western Athletic Conference play on Thursday. We'll know quite a bit about how this team will fair with a road match versus Grand Canyon, the preseason favorites to start conference. 

Early, it looks like a three-team race between GCU, UTA and Utah Valley. The standings follow this paragraph, but those three teams are a combined 26-9. Utah Tech has been a surprise at 6-4 and could be a dark horse.

WAC standings as the conclusion of non-conference:

UTA 10-2

UVU 9-3

GCU 7-4

UT 6-4

Abilene Christian 5-6

Tarleton State 5-8

Southern Utah 4-7

Seattle 2-8

California Baptist 0-12.

The schools GCU has lost to are very good. At this point, they are still my favs to win the WAC. UVU has been solid too, with some good wins. UTA could easily end up third. The Wolverines have ended UTA's season the last two years after all. In a scheduling quirk, UVU also plays at GCU on Saturday.

Overall, this was a really good start to a campaign, maybe as good as a Mav fan could have hoped for. When the RPI releases for this year, I'd expect the Mavs to be in the top 100, but not the top 50 for sure and wouldn't bet on a top 75. They have proven to be calm and cool, and we haven't seen the wacky runs of past years where they win and then lose a set by ten. This is the most excited I've been heading into conference time since I was a student.

First serve in Phoenix set for 8 pm. Then it is a round-robin schedule where WAC teams play all teams home and away. That culminates in the WAC tournament at College Park Center in mid-November. No host team has won the tourney since UTA rejoined the WAC. This team is looking to change that.