December Quick Hits

There are a few of topics to cover, but none are exactly a full posts length. Time to dust of the quick hits segment.

-The volleyball team finished its season at 21-11 with a second-round loss to UT El Paso in the National Invitational Volleyball Tournament. The Miners beat the Mavs in 4, 18-25, 25-23, 13-25 and 21-25. The score variation encapsulated what the Mavericks program has been of late. Scoring as little as 13, but winning a set, versus the UTEP's variation of two, winning three and losing one by 23. UTA had a lead in every set but the third, trailed 15-17 in the first and had a 15-14 lead in the fourth. Mav Nation has seen a lot of that type of inconsistency the last two decades or so.

It also contrasted with the three sets to none win in the first-round. Florida Atlantic's 18, 22 and 20 scores meant the Mavs defense was pretty consistent. I'd say it was the best all-around match of the year. 

May '17 Quick Hits

First, congratulations to the UT Arlington Men's track and field team, which claimed its 11th outdoor conference championship this past weekend. In doing so, they also claimed a triple crown by winning the cross country, indoor and outdoor conference championships in the same year. This is the second time the program has accomplished the feat, doing it last in 2013-14. The Mavericks also hosted the conference meet, their first instance of doing so as a member of the Sun Belt Conference.

UTA claimed 151 points in the three-day meet, besting second place Texas State by 35 points. They did it the way they have done recently, by dominating the track performance, and getting supporting roles in other events, like Christian Schiemann winning the decathlon. One of the great highlights was the Mavericks placing 1-2-3 in the 5,000 meter run as Michael Guerrero, Craig Lautenslager and Justin Domangue were the top three in the Sun Belt. That garnered UTA 24 points alone. Guerrero was also a multi-event winner.

In the video posted on UTAmavs.com, Coach John Sauerhage said something that really stuck out to me. As I was keeping updated on the meet (I had surgery the previous Friday and couldn't go), I was mildly put out at the number of sixth, seventh and eighth placings I was seeing. Yet, he was saying how much that meant to him and the team. I'll paraphrase, but not everyone can win or even medal. So the fifth-year player who finishes in the top eight and gets points for the team as a whole is very rewarding for the participant, and it helps the team out. Very well put by a very classy coach.

May '16 Quick Hits

The UT Arlington baseball season ended with two consecutive losses in the conference tournament. The Mavericks upset regular season co-champion South Alabama in the opening round, 4-2, behind 6.1 innings from starting pitcher Kadon Simmons. Jacob Moreland pitched 2.2 scoreless innings in relief for the save. That set up a second round match up with Georgia Southern, a team that beat UTA 2-1 at Clay Gould ballpark during the regular season.

UTA's Joel Kuhnel, part of a powerful 1-2 punch with Simmons, was injured during that regular-season series. He was in good health for the conference tournament and was slated to start. His performance looked good early, giving up 1 run in 2.2 innings on one hit and no walks. However, the UTA offense was listless and couldn't do anything themselves.

I've commented on how it seemed this team was one hit or pitch away from big things. In a very unsurprising way, even mother nature seemed to confine this team to mediocrity as a lightening delay called the game for the day. Despite pitching only 29 pitches, Kuhnel was done and with it, so were UTA's chances.

The blueprint would have been similar to the conference series' at the end of the year, Simmons and Kuhnel to pitch deep, then hope the offense can get one more run in game three. As soon as a I saw that Kuhnel was not going to pitch the next day, I just knew UTA's chances were done. Sure enough, Georgia Southern claimed a 6-0 win, thanks to five runs in the eighth inning to blow the game open.

April Quick Hits

A roadblock I have with this blog: I recognize some great things have happened with the Athletic Department, yet I don't know how to say much more than good job or this occured. And as I mentioned in the early days of this blog, I am not a source of news, but rather commentary about the UTA Mavs.

So with commentary as the goal, how do you talk about something that may not have great strategy moments and would be saying this happened, making it essentially a news post?

I have done this blog for a couple of months shy of three athletic seasons. Something that surprised me initially, but has been the rule - I write more in the fall than I do in the spring, despite the relative lack of fall activity at UTA compared to the spring.

As I was pondering this, and feeling a bit guilty for not getting into the many deserving sports that have had success, I came up with an idea, one so original that it has been in use since the beginning of media. So today marks the debut of Maverick Quick Hits.