Box Score

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OXFORD, Miss. - The UT Arlington Mavericks took Set 1, but Ole Miss rallied in front of its home crowd in its home opener to take the next three sets and the match in a 3-1 (23-25, 25-22, 25-13, 25-19) on the first night of the Ole Miss Invitational at The Pavilion.

"I'm pleased with how we played in the first and second sets, and if we take that second set maybe it is a different match," coach Diane Seymour said following the match. "But I'm really happy with how we played in the first set, but definitely disappointed in how we played in the second two."

The Mavs will close out the Ole Miss Invitational with a pair of matches on Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m. when they take on North Carolina State. UTA will then square off with former Southland Conference foe McNeese State at 5 p.m.

Set 1
The Mavs were able to overcome allowing Ole Miss to swing at a .429 clip behind .407 hitting of its own. Kaitlyn Granger delivered four scores, including a big kill late in the set to put UTA into a set-point opportunity after the Rebels had scored consecutive points to tie it up at 23-23. Neither team led by more than three points at any point in the set.

Set 2
Both teams cooled off in the second set, but things were just as close. The Mavs were still within a point at 20-19 late in the set, but the Rebels managed to score four of the final six points of the set to tie things up heading into the break. UTA got two kills from Zhanelle Geathers in the set, but misfired a dozen times to aid the Rebel cause.

Set 3
The Rebels took control of the set early, going on a 9-0 run after trailing 6-5 and never looked back. UTA got five kills from Canete in the set, committed a dozen attack errors in the set and Ole Miss countered with .417 hitting and five blocks.

Set 4
UTA righted the ship in the early part of the fourth set, getting a block from Jessica Nwabuko and Kylie Jedlicka to hold a 10-6 lead. Cassidy Wheeler later found Granger for a score to make it 12-9 before Ole Miss managed to break serve and eventually pulled even at 14-14 before taking the lead a point later as part of an 8-0 run that stretched the lead to 20-14. The Rebels got six kills from Kathryn Cather in the set while Granger and Jedlicka each finished with three apiece for UTA.

PLAYERS OF THE MATCH
Qiana Canete, Kaitlyn Granger and Zhanelle Geathers all led the team with 10 kills apiece with Geathers finishing with a solid .500 hitting for the match. Canete just missed her fourth double-double of the season with seven digs, while Taylor Murata's eight digs was tops for the night.

KEY STATS
UTA had oublocked each of its first four opponents, but the Rebels won the battle at the net 11.0-4.0, finishing with eight solo blocks on the night. Jessica Nwabuko had a pair of blocks for UTA, including one solo.

TURNING POINT
The Mavs were on the verge of taking a 2-0 lead in the match after taking Set 1 and being tied 18-18 late in Set 2; however, Ole Miss picked up three of the next four points and closed out the set with four of the final six to square things up heading into the break before taking Set 3 by a 25-13 count. UTA looked strong early in Set 4 before a 8-0 run by Ole Miss turned a 14-12 deficit into a 20-14 advantage.

QUOTABLES
Seymour on play of outside hitters
"Both of our outside hitters have kill production that is headed in the right direction. Zhanelle is really starting to get comfortable over on the right side, so we do have some good things going there. But as good as that was, the defense and the digging just wasn't there tonight."

Seymour on quick turnaround to Saturday matches
"All we can do is leave this one behind. Take something from it, but have a short memory and get out there tomorrow and do the best we can. We were able to see N.C. State a little bit earlier and that is a good matchup for us, one we think we can win. We think we can take one from McNeese too, but we have to get out there and show it."