UT Arlington Looks for Road Win at Texas State

Mavericks close three-match road trip with 6:30 p.m. match on Friday at Texas State

Tara Frantz is coming of a career-high 16 kills against Sam Houston State
 
Tara Frantz is coming of a career-high 16 kills against Sam Houston State
  

Oct. 6, 2009

Texas State Match Notes Get Acrobat Reader

ARLINGTON, Texas -

FIRST SERVE
UT Arlington finishes off its three-match road trip with a visit to Texas State on Friday, Oct. 9, at Strahan Coliseum for a 6:30 p.m. first serve. The Mavs have started their road trip with two losses after winning four of five to finish a seven-match homestand. UTA is now 0-5 on the road this season. Texas State enters with an 8-11 overall record, but does boast a 6-1 record on its home floor. Texas A&M is the only team to beat the Bobcats in San Marcos this season.

INSIDE THE SERIES
Friday marks the 61st all-time meeting between UT Arlington and Texas State as the Mavericks lead the all-time series 39-21. UTA holds a 12-10 lead in matches played in San Marcos. The Mavericks, however, have won only three matches at Texas State since 1998 (3-7) and the Bobcats have won nine of the past 13 matchups overall.

TAKING A LOOK BACK
UT Arlington fell in both road matches last week at Lamar and Sam Houston State. The Mavericks suffered a three-set loss at Lamar as the Cardinals posted 10 service aces and hit .271 as a team. The following day Sam Houston State picked up three straight set victories after the Mavs held an early 1-0 lead in the match. Amanda Aguilera and Raegan Daniel each had a double-double while Tara Frantz matched a career-high with 16 kills and Alicia Shaffer tallied a career best 25 digs in the loss. The Mavericks are searching for their first conference road win since Nov. 10, 2007 (3-2, at Sam Houston State).

ON THE HORIZON
The Mavs will return home to play Northwestern State on Wednesday, Oct. 14, at 7 p.m., marking their first home match since hosting Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Sept. 26.

PAIR OF ROAD LOSSES MOVE MAVS INTO TIE FOR 3RD PLACE IN WESTERN DIVISION
UT Arlington was among the leaders in the Southland Conference after opening league play with a 2-0 record with home wins over UTSA and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Now the Mavericks find themselves in a tie for third place in the SLC Western Division with Texas State with a 2-2 record. Both Lamar and Sam Houston State - who each defeated the Mavs on their home courts - sit in a tie for first place in the West. UTSA is currently 1-3 in league play while Texas A&M-Corpus Christi sits at the bottom of the league with a 0-3 league mark.

SHAFFER HAS MOST DIGS IN A MATCH SINCE NOV. 10, 2007
Sophomore libero Alicia Shaffer finished with a career-high 25 digs in the Mavericks' four-set loss to Sam Houston State on Saturday, Oct. 3. It was the most digs by any Maverick over the past two seasons. In fact, it was the most digs by a UTA player since Torie Dacus posted 30 digs in a five-set victory over Sam Houston State on Nov. 10, 2007. The last time a Maverick had at least 25 digs in a four-set match was when Dani Johnson recorded a school-record 27 digs in a three-set match against Stephen F. Austin on Nov. 7, 2007. Shaffer's 25 digs are tied for the fourth most in a single-match among all SLC players this season.

SHAFFER LEADING THE MAVS, 9TH IN THE SOUTHLAND IN DIGS
Alicia Shaffer had a big week racking up 5.43 digs per set in two road matches. Shaffer is currently leading the Mavericks averaging 3.36 digs per set this season, which ranks ninth in the Southland Conference. Shaffer has two 20-plus dig matches this season and four for her career. She has led the Mavs in digs five times this season and 23 times during her career.

LIFE ON THE ROAD DOESN'T GET EASIER FOR MAVERICKS
The Mavs have started the season with a 0-5 record on the road with losses at Illinois State (1-3), Arkansas (0-3), Colorado State (0-3), Lamar (0-3) and Sam Houston State (1-3). UT Arlington still has six road matches remaining this season against opponents who at this moment have a combined 63-47 overall record, which includes a 28-9 record at home. The Mavs next two road opponents (Texas State and Central Arkansas) are a combined 13-1 at home this season.

SHEARIN IS MAVS LEADING HITTER DURING SLC PLAY
Emily Shearin has started the conference season with a team-high .250 hitting percentage. She is the only Mavericks player to hit at least .200 in all four Southland Conference matches. She had one of her finest overall performances in the Mavs' last match against Sam Houston State where Shearin finished with seven kills, a .286 hitting percentage, only one attack error, three aces, three digs and three blocks. Shearin currently leads the Mavericks with 12 service aces, 47 total blocks and averaging 0.82 blocks per set this season.

FRANTZ LEADING THE WAY FOR MAVS OFFENSE WITH CAREER-HIGH 16 KILLS
Tara Frantz not only leads the Mavericks in kills per set (2.65) she has recorded two of the top three kill totals in all matches for UTA this season. Frantz equaled a career-high with 16 kills in the Mavericks' four-set loss to Sam Houston State. She also recorded 16 kills in a five-set loss to Oklahoma at home earlier this season. Only the 19 kills by Bianca Sauls in four-sets against Illinois State have been more by any Maverick this campaign.

Bianca Sauls ON THE 500 KILL/500 DIG DOORSTEP
Bianca Sauls needs just one kill and 12 digs to have 500 kills and 500 digs for her career. In two and a half seasons, Sauls is averaging 2.60 kills per set and 2.54 digs per set while playing in 56 matches (192 sets). Sauls had 271 kills (3.04) and 277 digs (3.11) in 2007, and last season added 96 kills (2.13) and 55 digs (1.22) in only 12 matches due to suffering an injury that forced her to miss 18 matches. This season Sauls has 132 kills (2.28) and 156 digs (2.69) in 16 matches.

FIRST TIME SINCE NOVEMBER 4, 2005...
It had been 111 matches since a UTA team had recorded at least 60 kills, 60 assists and 15 total blocks in a single match. In the Mavs' four-set win over UTSA, UT Arlington recorded 63 kills, 60 assists and 16.5 team blocks. The last time this occurred was at Texas Hall on Nov. 4, 2005, when UTA lost to Louisiana-Monroe in five sets and the Mavs had 81 kills, 71 assists and 16.0 team blocks in five sets. No Maverick squad has accomplished this feat in four sets since 2004.

LOWEST OPPONENT POINT TOTAL IN A SET SINCE... ST FRANCIS - SEPT. 16, 2006
UTA held Texas Southern to just seven points in the first set which matched the lowest point total for a Mavericks' opponent in a set (beside a fifth set) since rally scoring began in 2001. The last time a team scored seven points against UTA was St. Francis (9/16/06).