Mavericks Host Hilton Invitational this Weekend

UT Arlington plays Arkansas State, Texas Southern and TCU during weekend tourney

Tara Frantz was named All-Tournament team last weekend after tallying 3.12 kills per set
 
Tara Frantz was named All-Tournament team last weekend after tallying 3.12 kills per set
  

Sept. 17, 2009

UT Arlington Hilton Invitational Match Notes Get Acrobat Reader

ARLINGTON, Texas -

FIRST SERVE
The Mavericks continue their homestand this weekend hosting the UT Arlington Hilton Invitational at Texas Hall. UT Arlington opens the tournament on Friday at 7 p.m. against Arkansas State. The tournament will have five matches on Saturday which feature two UT Arlington matches against Texas Southern (12:30 p.m.) and then a battle with Metroplex rival TCU at 7:30 p.m. Arkansas State, Texas Southern, TCU and Tulsa make up the tournament field, although UT Arlington will not play Tulsa.

INSIDE THE SERIES
UT Arlington will face Arkansas State for the eighth time while leading the all-time series, 6-1. The Mavs only meeting with the Red Wolves since 1986 came in Arlington on Sept. 1, 2001, when Arkansas State defeated UTA in five sets. The Mavericks are 4-1 against Arkansas State in Arlington. Saturday will mark the first all-time meeting between UTA and Texas Southern. The Mavs are undefeated all-time against Southwestern Athletic Conference opponents (4-0). UTA will take on TCU for the 10th time in school history. The Mavericks are 6-3 against the Horned Frogs with a 4-1 record in Arlington.

TAKING A LOOK BACK
UT Arlington dropped both matches last weekend in its first action at Texas Hall this season. The Mavs went down in four sets against UALR and then fell in five sets to Oklahoma. Sophomore Tara Frantz and junior Raegan Daniel were named to the all-tournament team.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM SELECTIONS
UT Arlington was represented on the UT Arlington Invitational All-Tournament team by sophomore outside hitter Tara Frantz and junior setter Raegan Daniel. Frantz had a breakthrough weekend for the Mavs with a team-high 25 kills, 3.12 kills per set and .295 hitting percentage. Frantz had zero kills in five sets of action prior to last weekend's home tournament. Daniel continued her consistent play for the Mavericks averaging a team best 8.0 assists and 3.89 digs per set while notching her second career all-tournament team selection.

TWICE IS NICE FOR DOUBLE-DOUBLE LEADER
For the second straight weekend Raegan Daniel earned all-tournament team honors while leading the Mavs with a pair of double-doubles. In fact, Daniel had already notched her fourth double-double of the season in just the first set of the Oklahoma match with 11 assists and 10 digs. Daniel finished the match just one kill shy of a triple-double with a season-high 40 assists, and a career-high 21 digs and nine kills. Daniel now has 15 career double-doubles, which is second among active Mavs behind Teena Sobczak's 36. Daniel ranks tied for sixth in the Southland Conference with four double-doubles while also ranking seventh in the SLC in hitting percentage (.273) and tied for eighth in assists per set (7.13).

TAKING ON BIG 12 OPPONENTS
UT Arlington lost in five sets to Oklahoma on Saturday night in the final match of the UT Arlington Invitational. It is the second straight season that the Mavs have won at least one set from a Big 12 opponent (lost 3-1 to Texas Tech - 8/30/08). UT Arlington's last victory over a Big 12 opponent was in Diane Seymour's heading coaching debut against Baylor on Sept. 1, 2004, as the Mavericks defeated the Bears in five sets (23-30, 31-29, 23-30, 30-28, 17-15).

THE COAST IS CLEAR
Last season the Mavericks were expecting to host Texas Southern in the UTA Holiday Inn Invitational but due to the effects of Hurricane Ike the Tiger volleyball program spent that weekend evacuating the south Texas area instead of making the trip to Arlington. This season will mark the Mavericks and Tigers first-ever meeting.

NOW THAT IS SWINGING IT!
UT Arlington collected 194 attack attempts in five sets against Oklahoma, which is the most by a Southland Conference team in a single match this season. Six Mavericks had at least 25 attempts, including Tara Frantz (41), Alicia Shaffer (41), Bianca Sauls (33), Emily Shearin (27), Eld-hah Kaswatuka (25) and Raegan Daniel (25).

CONSISTENCY IS SOBCZAK'S STORY
UT Arlington senior Teena Sobczak made her return to the lineup as a starter this past weekend while starting both matches at the libero position. Sobczak is currently 16th all-time at UTA with 1,045 digs. She led the Mavs with 16 digs against UALR and notched 19 digs against Oklahoma. In her career, Sobczak has 50 matches with a double-figure digs total. Sobczak needs 103 digs to move into a tie for 15th place on the UTA all-time career list.

COME ON BACK TO "THE HALL"
UT Arlington continues its homestand with three matches this weekend and will remain at Texas Hall the following weekend to open their 2009 Southland Conference schedule. The Mavs will play UTSA (Sept. 24) in their SLC opener and then take on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Sept. 26) at home before hitting the road for three consecutive conference matches.

FINAL TUNE UP WEEKEND
UT Arlington will have three final non-conference matches this weekend to gear up for the start of Southland Conference play, which begins the following week against UTSA on Sept. 24. The Mavericks finished the non-conference 4-10 last season and went 3-13 in SLC play.