Freshman Whitney Walls had a career-high 15 kills in her homecoming on Thursday night. |
ARLINGTON — UT Arlington staved off seven UTSA set points in the second and third frames and the Mavericks picked up a thrilling 24-26, 30-28, 27-25, 25-23 victory in the Southland Conference opener for both teams on Thursday night.
The Mavericks (5-8, 1-0 SLC) fought off a half dozen in the second stanza alone and rallied from a 24-23 deficit one set later to take a what turned out to be a commanding 2-1 lead.
The contest featured 39 ties and 15 lead changes and it saw the Roadrunners (4-10, 0-1 SLC) hold a 65-63 edge in kills. However, UT Arlington held a big edge at the net, outhitting UTSA by 2.3 percent in addition to collecting 16.5 team blocks.
UTSA used a late rally in the first set to go in front and it had six chances to take a 2-0 advantage into the locker room. However, UTA fought off all six and evened the match at one on consecutive kills by Alicia Shaffer and Raegan Daniel to end the frame.
The Birds trailed for most of the third stanza, but they grabbed just their second lead of the set at 22-21 and went on to serve for the frame four points later. Once again, the Mavericks were up to the challenge and they scored four of the final five points to win their second set in a row.
With UTSA holding a 20-15 lead in the fourth frame, it looked as though the contest was destined to go to a fifth-and-deciding stanza, but UTA mounted yet another rally and closed out the victory with a 10-3 stretch, which sent the Birds to their fifth loss in their last half dozen contests.
Outside hitter and Arlington native Whitney Walls had the best match of her young career. One of five Roadrunners in double figures, she slammed home a personal-best 15 kills in her 32 attacks and committed just five errors, which translated to a .312 hitting percentage. Setter Amber Brooks tied her season high with 52 assists and libero Kelsey Jewasko racked up 24 digs.
Bianca Sauls, the sister of current Roadrunners women's basketball player Cierra Martin, led four Mavs in the double figures with 14 winners. Emily Shearin paced three players who recorded six or more blocks with a solo and seven assists.
UTSA is back in action on Saturday afternoon when it continues its four-match road trip against I-35 rival Texas State (7-9, 1-0 SLC). First serve is slated for 2 p.m. at Strahan Coliseum.