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SPORTS
| October 3, 2003
Volleyball
Opponents move up in SLC play
Mavericks ready to play 2 teams
with ‘surprising’ talent this season.
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| The Shorthorn: Awais Ikram |
| Junior middle blocker Heather Dunn,
left, and sophomore middle blocker Melissa Marerk deny
the ball during practice Thursday afternoon in the Activities
Building. |
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By Jon
Cromer
The Shorthorn sports editor
The Mavericks will play two teams tonight and Saturday that have
exceeded the expectations set for them before the season.
UTA was picked to win the SLC championship while its opponents,
Texas State and UT-San Antonio, were both picked to finish lower
than fourth in the Preseason Coaches and Sports Information Director
Polls.
The second-place Mavericks (5-1) will hit the road to face third-place
UT-San Antonio (4-1) tonight and conference leader Texas State (6-0)
in a crucial weekend for a UTA team working toward back-to-back
Southland Conference championships.
“I’m somewhat surprised Texas State and UT-San Antonio
are playing as well as they are right now,” head coach Janine
Smith said.
Both teams are overachieving but have accomplished that in different
ways, she said.
Texas State has had the pieces for a good team but has never put
them together until this season, she said. UT-San Antonio has a
team of new players including eight freshmen — four of whom
have started all 15 matches for the Roadrunners.
“Texas State has always had the talent — so it’s
not too surprising,” Smith said. “But UTSA — almost
all of those kids are new to the program, and it is just really
surprising that they are playing so well with all of those freshmen.”
UTA is coming off a 3-0 sweep over Louisiana-Monroe after dropping
a match to Nicholls State last Saturday, while UT-San Antonio defeated
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (3-0).
“Physically we were there for Nicholls State, but we just
made a lot of stupid mistakes that we shouldn’t have made.
We did a really good job against Monroe after having to drive five
hours,” junior outside hitter Caley Smith said.
Texas State defeated Stephen F. Austin 3-0 on Thursday night to
remain on top of the conference standings.
“It’s going to be good competition,” junior middle
blocker Heather Dunn said. “They are both good ball-control
teams, and that is something our team is striving for. We are a
good ball-control team, but we’ve been lacking that as of
late.”
Dunn had 29 assists in the win over Louisiana-Monroe, and Mindy
Hubik and Caley Smith had nine kills each to pace the UTA attack.
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UTA vs. UT-San antonio
Tonight at 7 p.m., Convocation Center,
San Antonio
Coaches: UTA Janine Smith
UTSA Laura Groff
2003 records: UTA 7-7, 5-1; UTSA
8-7, 4-1
2002 records: UTA 26-7, 18-2/1st
UTSA 8-24, 6-14/9th
2002 matches: The Mavericks pounded
UT-San Antonio in both meetings — never allowing
them to score more than 21 points in a single game.
All-time series: UTA leads the series
19-5-0
Key Players: UTA Caley Smith, Melissa
Robinett, Heather Dunn
UTSA Meagan Daniel, DeeDee Strickland, Erin McMillan
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UTA vs. texas state
Saturday Night at 7 p.m., Strahan Coliseum,
San Marcos
Coaches: UTA Janine Smith
TSt. Karen Chisum
2003 records: UTA 7-7, 5-1; TSt.
8-5, 5-0
2002 records: UTA 26-7, 18-2/1st
TSt. 10-21, 6-14/8th
2002 matches: Texas State played the Mavericks
closely last season but could never come away with
a win and was defeated 3-0 and 3-1 in two meetings.
All-time series: UTA leads the series
35-12-0
Key Players: UTA Caley Smith, Melissa
Robinett, Heather Dunn
TSt. Amy Amundson, Lizzie Nwoke, Stephani Torregrosa
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