Sam Houston State Avoids Upset by UT Arlington
CONWAY, Ark. - Behind numerous late set rallies in the 2011 Southland Conference Volleyball Tournament, No. 3 seed Sam Houston State avoided the upset by No. 6 seed UT Arlington to win, 3-2 (25-27, 25-21, 25-22, 22-25, 15-12), at the Farris Center in Conway, Ark. The Bearkats improve to 18-12 on the year while the Mavericks fall to 12-19.
In a tightly contested opening set, UTA rallied behind senior Amanda Aguilera's nine kills and .438 hitting percentage to win, 27-25. The first set had 16 ties and eight lead changes. Setter Amanda Welsh contributed with 16 assists and Alicia Shaffer, the 2011 libero of the year, added 11 digs for the Mavericks. Leading the Bearkats' attack was first-team all-conference selection Carli Kolbe with seven kills and six digs.
Sam Houston battled in the second set and closed strong with a 5-2 spurt to win, 25-21, and square the match. The Bearkats fell behind 4-0 to open the set but came out of a timeout to score seven consecutive points and take control of the set. Kolbe once again led the Bearkats offensively with another seven kills and two digs. Senior setter Kym Loving contributed with 11 assists and two block assists for Sam Houston. For the Mavericks, Aguilera had five kills, two digs and two block assists in the set, and Welsh added another 10 assists and one block assist.
After trailing 13-18, the Bearkats closed the third set on a 13-4 run to claim a 25-22 win. Sam Houston answered UT Arlington runs of 7-0 and 6-0 with separate 4-0 and 7-0 runs to stay in the set and eventually take the 2-1 set advantage. Junior Kaylee Hawkins led the Bearkats in kills with five while adding also six digs and two service aces. Senior Tara Frantz paced the Mavericks offensively with four kills, and Welsh added nine assists, three digs and a block assist for UTA.
UTA fought off a late surge from Sam Houston in the fourth set to win, 25-22. The Mavericks led 22-14 before an 8-1 run by the Bearkats to close within a point. The Mavericks gathered after a timeout to win the next two points and send the match to the decisive final set. Aguilera led UTA in the fourth set with five kills and two digs, while Kolbe added nine more kills and six digs for the Bearkats.
Sam Houston rallied behind the offense of Hawkins and Kolbe in the fifth set to win, 15-12. Hawkins recorded five kills while Kolbe notched four in the final set.
For the match, Kolbe recorded a double-double with a match-high 30 kills and 20 digs for the Bearkats. Hawkins also recorded a double-double with 17 kills and 10 digs. Aguilera led the Maverick offense with 23 kills while Shaffer led the defense with 37 digs.
Sam Houston advances to the semifinals to face No. 2 seed UTSA, which tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. The two teams split the season series this year with UTSA winning, 3-0, on Sept. 29 and the Sam Houston winning, 3-2, on No. 3. The match will be streamed live on SLC NOW on the Southland Conference website, southland.org.
Postgame quotes:
UT Arlington head coach Diane Seymour
"That's exactly what I expected. I knew it would be a barnburner with Sam. It always is between the two of us. We're very evenly matched. It was fun.
I think maybe they were more determined than we were. I think, overall, we had some really big leads and let those leads slip away. And that led Sam believe they could win the match. I think that showed in the fifth set.
That's what you tell your kids, this is tournament time and it's one and done. It's unfortunate when you think you played hard and played pretty well. But someone has to go home a loser. That happens sometimes, especially in the Southland Conference, especially between the 4 and 6 teams and the 3 and 5 teams. You're very evenly matched and the kids know each other pretty well. It's a dog fight and you just have to play with a little bit more emotion, I think."