Women's Volleyball
Freshman Bianca Sauls finished with a team-high 15 kills on Friday. |
MAVS SHOCKED IN OPENING ROUND
Nov. 16, 2007
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - - Northwestern State pulled off the first upset of the 2007 Southland Conference Volleyball Tournament as they shocked third-seed UT Arlington 3-1 (26-30, 30-27, 30-26, 30-23) in the opening round Friday afternoon at the Convocation Center.
UT Arlington (19-11) was denied its 24th 20-win season with its first opening-round loss since the Mavs were upended by Nicholls State on this Convocation Center floor in 2003. Northwestern State (11-15), the sixth-seed in the tournament, will face either top-seed Stephen F. Austin or eighth-seed UTSA Saturday at 2 p.m.
UT Arlington Head Volleyball Coach Diane Seymour tried to spark the club in game four, playing seldom Raegan Daniels and Ally Wade, but the Mavs could not gain any momentum. Northwestern State took the lead for good with a Markie Robichau kill to make it 11-10. The lead swelled to five, 18-13, after a Mav ball handling error and UTA could never get closer than four points the rest of the way.
For the match, freshman Bianca Sauls ended a strong season with 15 kills and 23 digs. Sophomore Liz Curry had 15 kills. Senior Torie Dacus finished with 21 digs and six kills. Senior Emily Nedderman had 33 assists and 12 digs while senior libero Dani Johnson had 14 digs.
Northwestern State was led by Robichau with 23 kills. Talita Santos had 16 kills, Ariane Damasco finished with 14 kills and Jan Fisher-Thurston and Yelena Enwere added 11 kills each.
UT Arlington won the first game 30-26. Liz Curry overcame two early attack errors and finished the game with seven kills. Sauls had four kills as the Mavs hit .371 attack percentage in Game 1. UT Arlington trailed 15-11 but rallied to take the lead for good, 19-18, after an error by Santos.
Northwestern State built a seven-point lead and held off UT Arlington to win game two, 30-27, in the opening round of the Southland Conference Volleyball Tournament. The match is tied at a game each at intermission.
Both teams struggled offensively in game two. Both had an attack percentage below .100 until the final five points.
UT Arlington trailed 24-17 after NWLA went on a 5-0 run. Markie Robichau hit back-to-back kills for the seven-point edge. UTA rallied to trim the lead to 28-27 after a kills by Sauls before Northwestern State coach Brittany Uffelman called timeout. Santos and Damasio had kills after the time out to claim the game.
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