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ARLINGTON, Texas -- Trailing by five points late in the third set, UTA rallied with a 15-8 run to finish off a three-set sweep (25-23, 25-16, 27-25) over McNeese in the third match of the UTA Invitational Tournament, on Saturday afternoon at College Park Center.

UTA (2-0) rallied past McNeese (1-1) in the third set, despite trailing by five at three different times during the game. The Mavs finished on a 15-8 run, getting powerful swings from Qiana Canete, Zhanelle Geathers and Kylie Jedlicka in the final set for the win.

LEADING THE MAVS
The Mavs were led by double-doubles from Canete and Geathers. Canete finished with 13 kills and 14 digs, with Geathers charting a new career high with 10 digs, adding 13 kills and a .300 attack percentage. Freshman Haley Higgins had a match-high 38 assists, adding eight digs and a kill. Jedlicka had seven kills and five digs, Madison McConnell finished with six kills and Tessa Harfield had six kills and four block assists.

QUOTABLE
"I liked that after kind of a slow start we were able to come back and hit for high efficiency, higher and higher efficiency in each set," Wenger said. "That shows that we were starting to click a little bit better as we went along and increase our progress.

"We took some good swings in some tough situations. Kylie Jedlicka took a couple great rips from the service line and just in general. On the whole that third set got a little dicey, but I'm happy that we were able to fight through it and make some plays."

NEXT
UTA will face Houston at 7 p.m. CT at College Park Center on Saturday, concluding the UTA Invitational. McNeese State and Southern will face off at 5 p.m. to open the nightcap of the doubleheader.

FIRST GAME
Sophomore setter Haley Higgins opened the scoring in the first set with a service ace and after McNeese answered with a point, Kylie Jedlicka finished her first kill of the match for a 2-1 lead. UTA expanded its lead to 7-5 after Zhanelle Geathers hammered her first kill of the match. After McNeese got to within 11-10, Madison McConnell smashed her first kill and Jedlicka charted an ace, giving UTA a 13-10 lead. McNeese took its first lead 17-16 after a block, stretching it to 18-16 before a UTA timeout. UTA fought back to tie the match at 21-21 and 22-22 before a Canete kill gave UTA a 23-22 lead and forced a timeout. UTA then notched two of the next three points for the set win.

SECOND GAME
The Mavs opened the scoring in the second set and took a 5-2 lead after kills from Tessa Harfield and Canete. Madison McConnell recorded a pair of kills to help UTA stretch its lead to 9-5 and Geathers gave UTA a five-point lead with her fifth kill. After McNeese spurted on a 4-2 run to cut it to 10-8, UTA took a timeout. Jedlicka and Harfield teamed up on a block to give UTA a 12-10 lead out of the timeout. The Mavs continued to build their lead, earning an 18-13 lead entering a McNeese timeout. Three straight kills, from Jedlicka, Geathers and Canete, boosted the Mavs to a 20-14 advantage. Libero Madelyn St. Germain then shined with a pair of digs in a long rally, with Canete's kill getting the Mavs to 24-15.

THIRD GAME
McNeese came out of the break strong, taking a 5-1 lead after UTA got the first point of the set. The Cowgirls built their lead to 12-7, before the Mavs started to rally, getting it to 14-11 after a powerful Harfield kill. McNeese stretch its advantage to 17-12 before Harfield finished a kill to get within four. The lead stretched out to 19-15 before UTA started to rally, getting the set to 19-18 before a McNeese timeout. UTA evened up the match at 20-20 but McNeese regained the lead. UTA evened the match against at 21-21 and 22-22 before Harfield and Jedlicka combined for a block and UTA's first lead of the set since it was 1-0. McNeese got the next two points to take a 24-23 lead and force a timeout from UTA's Coach J.T. Wenger.

FOLLOW THE MAVS SOCIALLY
For up-to-date news, photos, videos and updates you can follow UTA sports program online at UTAMavs.com or via any of several social media accounts on twitter @UTAMavs, Instagram @UTAMavs, Snapchat @UTAMavs and Facebook at UTArlingtonAthletics. Follow @UTAVolleyball on twitter and at UTAVolleyball on Facebook.