UTA Volleyball Loses In Sun Belt Semis
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SAN MARCOS, Texas – Fourth-seeded UT Arlington took a semifinals 3-0 loss (6-25, 17-25, 15-25) in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament to top-seeded UALR on Friday afternoon in Strahan Coliseum.
The loss ends the Mavericks season with a 25-9 record while the Trojans extend their nation leading win streak to 23 matches as they advance to the Sun Belt Conference Championship match. UTA’s 2014 season comes to an end with the most wins since the 2006 season when they registered a 25-10 record.
The offensive efforts for UT Arlington were led by Briana Sharratt and Qiana Canete who each notched six kills in the match. Sharratt’s six kills were coupled with a hitting percentage of .333 to give her a school record hitting percentage of .414 this season breaking the previous record of .357 set by Shawn Sweeten in 1988.
Caitlyn Cooney went to work defensively as the Houston native recorded a team high 11 digs in the match.
Directing the Mavericks offense was Amanda Welsh who put up ten assists in the match.
UTA was out hit .361 to .020 and out blocked 9-2 in the match.
UT Arlington opened up the match on the wrong end of a
12-2 run by the Trojans. The Mavericks then scored two out of three points to make the score 13-4, but that was as close as they would get as UALR would end the set with a second 12-2 run that ended the set 25-6.
Sharratt led the Mavs in the opening frame as she registered two kills with a hitting percentage of .333. Canete made her mark defensively as the freshman OH notched two digs in the set. As a team UTA was out hit .445 to -.333 and out blocked 4-0.
The momentum for UALR carried over into the second set as they claimed a 4-1 lead. The Mavericks then cut the lead down to two points at 5-3 thanks to a Canete kill. After trailing by nine points at 16-7, UT Arlington worked to cut down the lead to six points at 19-13 after a Baptiste kill. UALR then pushed its lead to ten points at 24-14 before UT Arlington rattled off three straight points that were highlighted by a Baptiste kill and a Taylor Story ace, forcing a Trojan timeout. Out of the timeout UALR took a 2-0 lead in the match as they claimed the set 25-17.
Canete and Sharratt paced UTA in the second frame as the pair registered three kills each. Cooney did her part defensively as the junior libero notched seven digs in the set.
The Trojans continued to pour it on in the third set as they jumped out to a 12-6 lead. The Mavericks then responded, cutting the lead to four points at 12-8 after a Sharratt kill. UALR then ended the set with a 8-3 run to take the set 25-15 and the match 3-0.
Canete paced UT Arlington in the final frame with three kills. Cooney also did her part as she chipped in four digs and four assists while Welsh notched four digs for the Mavs. UTA was out hit .375 to .094 and out blocked 3-0 in the final set.
The Mavericks will say goodbye to four seniors after falling in the Sun Belt Conference Semifinals in Ashley Bennett, Taylor Gross, Taylor Story and Amanda Welsh.
