Box Score

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ABILENE, Texas - Taylor Murata finished with the most digs by a UTA player since 2013, but Abilene Christian rallied from a 2-1 deficit to take the final two sets and knock off UT Arlington, 3-2 (26-28, 25-18, 18-25, 25-22, 18-16) on Tuesday at Moody Coliseum.

The Mavs (3-5) had three players - Kaitlyn Granger, Qiana Canete and Zhanelle Geathers - with at least 14 kills, but could not hold back the Wildcats (1-7) in the final two sets.

UTA will next head to Corpus Christi this weekend for three matches, starting Friday against UNLV.

SET 1
UTA hit .318 in Set 1, but had to play catch-up to go up 1-0 in the match after trailing for much of the set before a 7-1 run gave it a 21-15 lead. Granger needed 17 swings to get home six of UTA's 19 kills in the frame, which helped the Mavs get to a set-point try at 24-21 late in the set. But ACU fought off three straight set-point tries and forced extra points, getting to a set-point try of its own at 25-24 before Granger knotted it back up at 25-25. The Mavs then got a block from Geathers and Jessica Nwabuko to get to another set-point opportunity before Geathers found the floor for the fourth time to give the Mavs a 28-26 win.

SET 2
ACU tied it up at a set apiece with a near wire-to-wire 25-18 win in the second set. The Wildcats upped its attack percentage to .294 in the second set, holding UTA to just .111 hitting. UTA held a brief 9-8 lead on a kill from Granger, but the Wildcats responded with eight consecutive points to take control of the set, scoring three of the final five points to close it out.

SET 3
The Mavs picked up five blocks in the third set to take a 25-18 win of their own and go up 2-1 in the match. Marisah Ingram was in on three of the blocks, helping hold ACU to -.026 hitting and 12 attack errors for the set. UTA led 9-7 before reeling off four straight points to go up 13-7 and eventually stretched it out to 23-16 late in the set before Kylie Jedlicka finished it off with her third kill of the set.

SET 4
In the fourth set the Wildcats returned the favor at the net, blocking five sets of their own in forcing a decisive fifth frame. UTA led as late as the 18-17 point on a kill from Geathers, but could not draw back even. ACU's Jacey Smith provided the biggest point of the set with a kill to cap the longest rally of the night and give the Wildcats a 23-21 lead. ACU finished it off with consecutive blocks on the final two points and held UTA to -.019 hitting for the set.

SET 5
ACU jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the final set before the Mavs roared back to tie it at 5-5, and eventually take the lead at 10-9 on an attack error from Jacey Smith. The Mavs worked their way to a pair of match-point tries at both 14-13 and 15-14, but the Wildcats managed to fight off both and cashed in on their second match-point try to finish off the set despite hitting just .086 to UTA's .207.

PLAYERS OF THE MATCH
Freshman libero Taylor Murata finished with 34 digs, the most by any UTA player since Caitlyn Cooney had 35 against Little Rock in October of 2013. Kaitlyn Granger set a new career high with 15 kills, while Qiana Canete (14 kills, 18 digs) and Cassidy Wheeler (28 assists, 13 digs) each had double-doubles. Zhanelle Geathers finished with 14 kills and six blocks.

KEY STATS
The Mavs led in blocks 9.0-5.0 after the third set, but were outblocked 7.0-3.0 in the final three frames. ACU finished with eight service errors for the match, but did not have a misfire from the service line in the final frame while the Mavs contributed two in what was otherwise a statistically-even set.

QUOTABLES
Coach Diane Seymour on overall match:
"Not the way we wanted it to go. We got outplayed. It was ACU's opener and we did not respond to a team that was in it to win it and they fought harder than we did tonight."

Seymour on the fourth and fifth sets:
"They started to block balls better than we did. We did a good job of it recovering and passing and were scrappy on defense. But hats off to their blockers who did a really good job."

Seymour on libero Taylor Murata's 34 digs:
"That is a bright spot, which tells us she is starting to catch up to the speed of the game. She's doing a good job of reading the hitters and anticipating where she needs to be. Hopefully she can continue that trend because it makes us better."