On the brink of recording their sixth 20-loss campaign in the last nine full seasons, the Southern Utah University women’s volleyball team will take on the University of Texas at Arlington on Thursday, Nov. 13 at 6:30 p.m. in the America First Event Center. For the final game of the season, they’ll host Tarleton State University on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 12:30 p.m.
Both games will also be streamed live on ESPN+.
SUU is on a seven-game losing streak, during which they’ve won just three sets. They sit at 2-19 overall and have a Western Athletic Conference record of 1-9.
UT Arlington is on a three-game losing streak. They have an 11-11 record with a WAC standing of 3-7.
Tarleton State is on a six-game winning streak. They have a 14-8 record with a WAC standing of 8-2, making them tied for second in the conference in a neck-and-neck race with Utah Valley University and Utah Tech University.
Southern Utah
The T-Birds have had a rough season, and would set a new record for least wins in a season if they lose either of their final two games.
Two areas where the T-Birds have been equal to opponents are blocking errors and aces, where they’ve recorded the same amount. Otherwise, they’ve lagged behind in most offensive and defensive categories.
They have the 12th-worst assist rate, 10th-worst hitting percentage and seventh-worst dig rate in Division One volleyball.
A silver lining for SUU is that UT Arlington has struggled to close out games over their losing streak despite high scoring. A focus on making the Mavericks be aggressive and letting them commit errors could be SUU’s key to victory.
UT Arlington
The Mavericks have been a streaky team. They won their first eight matches, lost eight of their next nine, then won back-to-back contests before their current losing streak.
They’ve also been evenly matched with opponents to go along with their .500 record. Their hitting percentage, assists and digs have been almost equal to competitors, which shows that most games have either been nail-biters or blowouts.
Despite a rough going the last three games, UT Arlington has a newly-named WAC Libero of the Week in Samantha Glenn. It’s the fourth time the junior from Grapevine, Texas has won the honors this season. One of their other top players, Mira Ledermueller, has over 800 assists, which ranks in the top 1% of Division One women’s volleyball.
SUU is 0-5 against UT Arlington all-time. Their previous matchup this year ended with a sweep for the Mavericks.
Tarleton State
The Texans have only had one stretch of back-to-back losses this season, and both were five-set games. Since then, they’ve had 12 wins and five losses.
While most stats in the WAC have been led by the powerhouses of Utah Valley and Utah Tech, Tarleton State has been a great team in conference play. The Texans recently won a close five-set match against Utah Valley and had just as impressive defense as the Wolverines, the best blocking team in Division One.
Tarleton’s most prolific attackers have been Madison Frank, LaNeah Lara and Madison Rice-Locket. Each of them have over 200 kills while Rice-Locket has also been one of the WAC’s best servers, averaging a service ace every match as an outside hitter.
SUU is 3-2 against Tarleton State all-time. Their most recent faceoff was a sweep for the Texans, but SUU won the previous three matches.
Author: Payson Davis
Photographer: SUU Athletics
Editor: Jack Paul
