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MAVERICKS BLUE-WHITE SCRIMMAGE SET FOR SUNDAY
Aug. 22, 2008
ARLINGTON, Texas - With less than a week before the season-opener, the UT Arlington volleyball team will take the court Sunday for the annual Blue-White scrimmage at Texas Hall. Admission is free and is open to the public with action scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. The Mavericks have endured two straight weeks of two-a-day practices, with conditioning, weight training and swimming also in the daily mix. The Blue-White scrimmage will provide fans their first look at the 2008 squad under the leadership of fifth-year head coach Diane Seymour. With two weeks under their belts, Seymour and the Mavs are ready to experience game-like conditions, even the hour warm-up period before the start of a match. "When you have as many young players that haven't gone through an hour warm-up, that is just part of it," Seymour said referring to the period before a normal regular-season match. "The plan is to have a referee there so the pace will be similar to a match. Just to get our uniforms on, the scoreboard on and to get the jitters out will be good for our players." Seymour said not only are the newcomers learning at a fast pace, but the returning players are helping lead by example. "They are learning," Seymour said. "The first couple of days I think their bodies were sore and they were overloaded with a lot of information. We are starting to see them improve very quickly. If they continue to improve at the pace they have been, we could be very successful this year." "Our leadership from our returners has been great. They have been there for our younger players to help them set up for drills and with everything else that is going on." Returning sophomore Bianca Sauls had a breakout freshman campaign that included leading the Mavs averaging 3.04 kills per game. Sauls feels a year has made a big difference for her when it comes to the two-a-day regimen.
"The freshmen are telling me everything they are learning and I feel like I have made a big step even though I'm just one year ahead of where I was last year." "I'm very excited for this," Sauls said about the Blue-White scrimmage. "We will actually get to play and compete really hard. It is going to be fun." Senior outside hitter Ally Wade, who is in her fourth season with the Mavericks, feels two-a-days are just part of the molding for a successful season. "Two-a-days is a process we have to go through," Wade said. "It is absolutely necessary, especially with six freshmen. We have to learn a lot. It is the process of getting in the program, learning UTA volleyball and getting together to mesh as a team." "We were ranked fifth (preseason), and I think a goal for me and most of the girls is to do better than fifth and prove people wrong. I think we can be in the top three or top two. People will be shocked when they see what we can do." The Mavericks open the regular season on Aug. 29-30, traveling to the North Texas Mean Green Classic in Denton. UT Arlington will face Jackson State on Friday at 4:30 p.m. at the Mean Green Volleyball Center. WHAT TO LOOK FOR:
Points Required to Win a Set. Instead of 30 points, the number of points needed to win sets one through four is now 25 (and a two-point lead). Fifteen points (and a two-point lead) is still the requirement to win the fifth (deciding) set. Terminology. The term "game" will be changed to "set". A match still consists of the best three out of five sets. UT Arlington matches at the Mean Green Classic (Denton, Texas)
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