| SPORTS
| October 12, 2004
Volleyball
Mavs dominate two teams
The women had a slow start but
came back to defeat both opponents.
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| The Shorthorn: Awais Ikram |
| Freshman outside hitter Gina Kalb goes
for a kill during practice Monday afternoon at Texas Hall.
The Mavericks remain on top of the Southland Conference
after defeating Nicholls State and Southeastern Louisiana
this weekend. |
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By Kevin
Bueker
Contributor to The Shorthorn
The Mavericks volleyball team remained on top of the Southland Conference
with a pair of victories over Nicholls State and Southeastern Louisiana
State this weekend.
The Mavs (15-3, 7-2 conference) defeated Nicholls State in four
games Friday: 24-30, 30-24, 30-26, 30-15 and swept Southeastern
Louisiana State on Saturday: 30-28, 30-15, 30-27.
“Friday we came in a little flat,” interim head coach
Diane Seymour said. “I thought we would come out with more
fire, but we handled them fine by the time we warmed up.”
Coming off a plane ride and entering the first game in dreary conditions
led to the team’s sluggish start against Nicholls State.
The Mavs battled back from the first game loss to win the next two
before jumping out 12-4 in the deciding game.
“Game four is how we should be playing on the road,”
middle blocker Melissa Marek said.
The team controlled the tempo of the final game by playing its style
of volleyball instead of letting Nicholls State play its game, Marek
said.
After the Sam Houston State game in which Ashley Van Antwerp had
80 attacks and Morgan Rogers had 57, Seymour told her team not to
depend so heavily on a couple players but instead play more as a
team.
“I felt we were relying on a couple players too much. Early
on in the year our sets were more well distributed,” Seymour
said. “We needed to get back to what worked for us and not
rely on one or two people to get our job done every night.”
Caley Smith, Marek, Tori Dacus and Van Antwerp all chipped in for
the Mavs against Nicholls State by recording a total of 55 of the
Mavs 67 kills in a balanced attack. Five players had between 24
and 35 attacks, showing the balance Seymour wanted from the team.
Marek recorded a career high of 14 kills while making no hitting
errors for a match high .583 hitting percentage. Rogers led the
team with 17 digs and Dacus followed with 16. Rogers was named Southland
Conference Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, her third honor
of the season.
The Mavs were able to keep their opponents off guard by setting
the ball to multiple people and making their offensive attack more
difficult to defend.
“It’s good to have more people involved offensively
so they aren’t focusing on one hitter,” Marek said.
“It makes us more of a threat if we can go to several hitters
instead of just one.”
Against Southeastern Louisiana, the Mavs had eight players record
kills with Van Antwerp leading the way with 13 and Marek coming
in with 11. Middle blocker Caley Smith led defensively with 19 digs.
Marek, the leading blocker in the conference, was the primary beneficiary
of the distribution, getting more offensive attempts than usual.
Nicholls State’s ineffectiveness covering the rip and effective
passing allowed Marek to hit the split, leading to her error-free
match Friday.
“She plays so high above the net,” Seymour said. “We’ve
got to get her more involved.”
The Mavs will play 7 p.m. Friday in Texas Hall against Texas State,
which sits tied with the Mavs at 7-2 atop the conference.
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Game
Highlights
Friday at Nicholls State
Game 1
Nicholls State hit .310 in game one en route to a 30-24
victory. The Mavericks hit just .231 in the game.
Game 2
UTA led the game 9-8 with back-to-back kills from Ashley
Van Antwerp. The Mavericks continued with four kills
each from Van Antwerp and Torie Dacus.
Game 3
Melissa Marek paced the Mavs with five kills and a .833
attack percentage as UTA took a 2-1 lead with a 30-26
victory.
Game 4
The Mavs cruised to a 30-15 win in game four
S aturday at Southeastern Louisiana
Game 1
The Mavs led the game by five points twice before the
Lions tied the game at 22. The game ended with a win
for the Mavs
Game 2
Mavs benefited from five SLU ball handling errors with
a -.083 attack percentage en route to a 30-15 game two
victory. Ashley Van Antwerp led the Mavericks with five
kills in the game. UTA held six kills to the Lions in
the game.
Game 3
Southeastern doubled the Mavericks score early on at
14-7. UTA used a 9-2 run to tie the game at 16. A kill
from Caley Smith put the Mavericks in the lead for the
first time at 19-18.
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