Nov. 15, 2007

ARLINGTON, Texas - Three UT Arlington volleyball players - all seniors and all from the Dallas-Fort Worth area - were honored yesterday by the league office when the All-Southland Conference teams were released.

Sports information directors and coaches made Torie Dacus and Ellen Murray first-team selections.

Emily Nedderman was a second-team pick.

Dacus, a 6-0 right-side hitter from Red Oak, is close to closing out one of the most impressive careers in UTA volleyball history. Heading into today's 4 p.m. SLC Tournament first-round match against Northwestern State in San Antonio, Dacus has 1,515 digs in her career. That's good enough for sixth all-time. A repeat first-team All-SLC pick, she has 15 double-doubles this season.

Murray, a 6-0 middle blocker from Arlington, leads the Mavericks with 134 blocks this season, and her .299 hitting percentage is seventh in the SLC. She has also knocked down 199 kills. Murray registered at least seven blocks in eight matches last season, and this year, she set a career high with 10 blocks in a match against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in October.

Nedderman, a 5-10 setter from Colleyville, made the second team on the strength of her standout performances on offense and defense. Nedderman enters the SLC Tournament today with 1,104 assists, 120 kills, 230 digs and 104 total blocks. Nedderman was the quarterback of a Mavericks team that finished 19-10 overall and 12-4 in the SLC and will enter the postseason tournament as the No. 3 seed.

"When we recruited these players, we knew they had potential to be all-conference type players, so it's nice when you see them honored by the league and reach their potential," UTA coach Diane Seymour said. "I know their teammates are proud of them as well. It would have been nice to have placed Dani Johnson and Bianca Sauls on the team as well, but they still have a chance to earn some all-conference honors here at the tournament."

Sauls, a 5-10 freshman from Pflugerville, moved into the starting lineup in the second half of this season and has recorded 10 double-doubles. She ended the regular season last weekend with a 25-kill, 15-dig performance against Sam Houston State.

Both played crucial roles in helping the Mavericks win six of their last seven matches and grab the No. 3 seed in this weekend's conference tournament. If the Mavericks defeat Northwestern State today in the first-round match, they will face the winner of the UTSA-Stephen F. Austin match at 2 p.m. Saturday.

The championship match is scheduled at 2 p.m. Sunday.