UT Arlington Mavericks women's volleyball

The Texas–Arlington Mavericks volleyball team, historically one of the most nationally prominent teams on campus, is an NCAA Division I college volleyball team rejoined the Western Athletic Conference in July 2022. Home games are played at College Park Center, located on University of Texas at Arlington's campus in Arlington. The team has appeared in eight AIAW National Tournaments, eight NCAA Tournaments and one National Invitational Volleyball Championship Tournament, collecting 12 regular seasons titles and ten conference tournament titles along the way. The Mavericks are currently in their longest national post-season drought in program history, with the last appearance coming in the 2002 season.

Texas–Arlington Mavericks
UniversityUniversity of Texas at Arlington
Head coachJ.T. Wenger
ConferenceWAC
LocationArlington, Texas
Home arenaCollege Park Center (capacity: 7,000)
NicknameMavericks
ColorsRoyal blue, white, and orange[1]
     
AIAW/NCAA Tournament semifinal
1989
AIAW/NCAA Tournament appearance
1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 2001, 2002
Conference tournament champion
1982, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 2001, 2002
Conference regular season champion
1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1998, 2002

Team history

UT Arlington in action against Louisiana–Monroe

The Mavericks began competition in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, as the NCAA didn't sponsor women's sports until the early 1980s. UTA's first coach was Jody Conradt who was also the head coach for the basketball and softball teams. Right away, the Mavericks were competitors, appearing in the AIAW National Tournament eight out of a possible nine times, finishing as high as sixth nationally in 1981. They placed in the national tournament every year but one.

When the NCAA began competition, the Mavericks moved over to the Southland Conference, where UTA was a founding member in 1963. The Mavericks immediately became the most dominant team in the conference winning the first nine regular season titles. UTA won the first conference tournament in 1982, but the NCAA structure didn't allow UTA to play in a postseason match. Second-seeded Lamar would win the conference tournament in 1983 and 1984 and again the Mavericks missed playing in the postseason. The Mavericks finally won the SLC tournament in 1985 under Head Coach Lisa Love and would also claim the next five after that. The Mavericks would establish themselves as national contenders as they made four Sweet Sixteen appearances, two Elite Eight's and a Final Four in 1989.

The Mavericks slipped in stature during the '90's after Coach Love took over the program at USC. They were no longer the perennial Southland Conference favorite, though they did win three regular season championships in the '90's and two tournament crowns.

Despite having long been removed from the Southland, the volleyball team still is first in regular season championships and three more tournament titles than second place Texas State.

UT Arlington would move from the Southland to the Western Athletic Conference in 2012, but would spend only one season in the WAC, moving from there to the Sun Belt Conference. After a later round of conference realignment in the early 2020s led to a major expansion of the Sun Belt's football side, UTA announced in January 2022 that it would return to the WAC that July.[2]

In October 2015 against in-state Sun Belt rival Texas State, UTA's volleyball home attendance record was broken with 2,018 fans attending the match.[3]

Facilities

Until 2012, the Mavericks played at Texas Hall, which is a 3,300-seat theater on the campus. The teams played on the stage, and fans could watch the game from either the theater seats or the bleacher section.

A new arena called the College Park Center with a seating capacity of 7,000 opened for the 2012 season.[4][5] The facility is located on the eastern side of the campus along with new housing, parking, and retail developments.

Coaches

The Mavericks have had 7 coaches, listed below, in their 40+ year history. J.T. Wenger, a former volleyball player at UCLA and former assistant coach at UCLA, Michigan State, and Colorado, is the current head coach. Wenger is also the first male coach in program history.

  • Jody Conradt – 1973–1975 (3 seasons)
  • Mary Ridgway – 1976–1981 (6 seasons)
  • Lisa Love – 1982–1988 (7 seasons)
  • Cathy George – 1989–1993 (5 season)
  • Janine Smith – 1994–2003 (10 seasons)
  • Diane Seymour – 2004–2016 (13 seasons)
  • J.T. Wenger – 2017–present

Season-by-season results

Statistics overview
Season Coach Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Jody Conradt (AIAW) (1973–1975)
1973 Conradt 27–9–3T-9th AIAW National Tournament
1974 Conradt 44–6–37th AIAW National Tournament
1975 Conradt 34–14–2AIAW National Tournament
Jody Conradt: 105–29–8 (.768)
Mary Ridgeway (Independent) (1976–1981)
1976 Ridgway 45–15–19th AIAW National Tournament
1977 Ridgway 44–125th AIAW Regional Tournament
1978 Ridgway 50–109th AIAW National Tournament
1979 Ridgway 41–228th AIAW National Tournament
1980 Ridgway 46–1511th AIAW National Tournament
1981 Ridgway 37–206th AIAW National Tournament
Mary Ridgway: 263–94–1 (.736)
Lisa Love (Southland Conference) (1982–1988)
1982 Love 29–175–01st
1983 Love 30–203–0T-1st
1984 Love 21–166–01st
1985 Love 28–46–01stNCAA Tournament
1986 Love 29–106–01stNCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen
1987 Love 32–77–01stNCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen
1988 Love 30–47–01stNCAA Tournament Elite Eight
Lisa Love: 199–78 (.718)40–0 (1.000)
Cathy George (Southland Conference) (1989–1993)
1989 George 31–47–01stNCAA Tournament Final Four
1990 George 18–197–01stNCAA Tournament
1991 George 13–188–12nd
1992 George 20–149–01st3rd National Invitational Volleyball Championship Tournament
1993 George 11–196–3T-4th
Cathy George: 93–74 (.557)37–4 (.902)
Janine Smith (Southland Conference) (1994–2003)
1994 Smith 11–216–7T-5th
1995 Smith 15–209–95th
1996 Smith 13–1811–5T-2nd
1997 Smith 19–1313–53rd
1998 Smith 24–719–11st
1999 Smith 16–1512–8T-4th
2000 Smith 18–1116–43rd
2001 Smith 22–1213–7T-4thNCAA Tournament
2002 Smith 26–718–21stNCAA Tournament
2003 Smith 16–1314–63rd
Janine Smith: 180–137 (.568)131–54 (.708)
Diane Seymour (Southland Conference) (2004–2011)
2004 Seymour 24–715–53rd
2005 Seymour 6–214–149th
2006 Seymour 25–1012–4T-2nd
2007 Seymour 19–1112–43rd
2008 Seymour 7–233–1311th
2009 Seymour 12–178–86th
2010 Seymour 17–1510–64th
2011 Seymour 12–198–86th
Diane Seymour: 122–123 (.498)72–62 (.537)
Diane Seymour (Western Athletic Conference) (2012–2013)
2012 Seymour 9–225–138th
Diane Seymour: 9–22 (.290)5–13 (.278)
Diane Seymour (Sun Belt Conference) (2013–2016)
2013 Seymour 19–1510–84th
2014 Seymour 25–914–64th
2015 Seymour 19–1010–64th
2016 Seymour 17–1610–64th
Diane Seymour: 80–50 (.615)44–26 (.629)
Diane Seymour - career: 211–195 (.520)131–54 (.545)
J.T. Wenger (Sun Belt Conference) (2017–2021)
2017 Wenger 13–17 (.433)7–9 (.438)7th
2018 Wenger 16–12 (.571)9–7 (.563)5th
2019 Wenger 20–14 (.588)8–8 (.500)3rd, West
2020 Wenger 13–10 (.565)10–6 (.625)3rd, West
2021 Wenger 12–15 (.444)9–7 (.563)T-2nd, West
J.T. Wenger (Western Athletic Conference) (2022–present)
2022 Wenger 17–10 (.630)9–5 (.643)5th
Total:1097–638-9 (.632)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

See also

References

  1. "UTA Color Palette". Retrieved August 29, 2022.
  2. "University of Texas at Arlington Accepts Invitation to Join WAC" (Press release). Western Athletic Conference. January 21, 2022. Retrieved January 22, 2022.
  3. "VB: UTA falls in four sets to Texas State".
  4. Carter, O.K. (2009-02-23). "UT-Arlington arena long-sought goal for city, school". Fort Worth Business Press. Vol. 21, no. 6. Fort Worth, Texas. p. 7. Archived from the original on 2011-07-11.
  5. Tronche, John-Laurent (2009-02-16). "UT-Arlington to build $73 million events facility". Fort Worth Business Press. Vol. 21, no. 6. Fort Worth, Texas. p. 4. Archived from the original on 2011-07-11.
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