Lamar Ousts UT Arlington, Advances to Southland Semifinals
SAN ANTONIO - Lamar senior Kaci Brewer recorded a double-double with 14 kills and 14 digs to lead fourth-seeded Lamar to a 3-1 win over No. 5 seed UT Arlington in the opening round of the Southland Conference Tournament Friday afternoon at the Convocation Center.
Lamar (15-13) will face No. 1-seed Texas State (20-12) in the first semifinal match Saturday at 1 p.m. This marks the third straight year that the Lady Cardinals and Bobcats have faced each other in the Southland tournament. Lamar defeated Texas State in the championship game last season.
UTA (12-17) claimed a hard-fought first set 25-21. The set featured 12 ties and six lead changes. The Mavericks scored the final three points to close out the set. Lamar stormed back to claim a 25-17 win in set two. Leading 16-13, the Cardinals went on a 5-0 run to extend its lead to 21-13 and take control of the set.
It was more of the same in set three as Lamar won 25-21. A Brewer kill tied the match at 4-4 and ignited a 7-0 run that made the score 10-4. Lauren Holdorff had three straight kills that extended the Cardinals' lead to 19-13.
Lamar closed out the match with a 25-22 win in the fourth set on the strength of a robust .308 hitting percentage. That deciding set featured six ties and three lead changes.
Krell, the Southland freshman of the year, added 12 kills for the Lady Cardinals and posted a .320 hitting percentage. Genevieve Gladle nearly recorded a double-double with nine kills and 11 digs. Meengs passed out 43 assists, had nine kills, six digs and two blocks. Bailey Smith led the Cardinals with 23 digs.
Emily Shearin led UTA with 17 kills and Tara Frantz added 12. Alicia Shaffer had a team-high 27 digs and Raegan Daniel had 39 assists.
For the match, Lamar hit .233 compared to .181 by UTA. Each team had 67 digs and 10 total blocks.
Post match Quotes:
Lamar Coach Justin Gibert
"We've got so many young players that I don't think they were ready for the tournament environment. We needed our experienced players to help and they really came through. We played even with UTA defensively, with the same number of digs and blocks. It was our offense that was the difference. I thought Adrianne Meengs played really well today. She makes it happen for us and really opens up our offense."
"I thought Kaci Brewer played better as the match went along and really gave us a lift. Wendy Krell played extremely well especially for a freshman playing in her first conference tournament. She is our most consistent middle blocker and she really hurt UTA with her service game today."
Lamar Senior Kaci Brewer
"We started off slow but toward the end we started to pick things up a bit. But I have to give a lot of credit to UTA, they played is really tough in all four sets. The match against Texas State should be a really good match. Two of the best teams in the conference, we will leave it all out on the court."
UT Arlington Coach Diane Seymour
"I think our players fought hard today. In the first set we played well and won the set, second set we were a little sluggish, but I thought we got things going again and played pretty well in sets three and four. I'm very glad we were able to battle back in the final two sets, we should be proud of that. I don't think we played our best volleyball today, but sometimes that happens and we came up just a little bit short."
On the performance of Emily Shearin (career-high 17 kills) and Alicia Shaffer (career-high 27 digs)
"I'm very proud of our sophomore class in general, and I'm proud of all our players. Emily had not put up good offensive numbers against Lamar in the first two meetings, and we talked about that. She definitely put up offensive numbers for us today. Alicia, ever since Teena went down, has really stepped up her play for us. She was definitely all over the court for us today and did a very good job in serve receive."
Sophomore Libero Alicia Shaffer
"We knew coming out today that this could be our last match or our first of three this weekend. We came out of the gates with a lot of emotion and energy, trying to get the momentum on our side."
On career-high 27 digs
I've really been disciplined on my defense and have just tried to pick up as much from our coaches as possible, because they provide valuable information. Whenever they say something you really need to listen, because if you do it obviously works - I have had career-highs repeatedly over the last few matches. Since Teena went down I have been really concentrating on my serve-receive and have just tried to step up and to be confident."