ARLINGTON - It was a thrilling way to open league play at College Park Center as UT Arlington topped Sun Belt perennial power Arkansas State in five sets on Friday night in UTA's first SBC match on the home floor.
In a back-and-forth match, it was the arms of
Kylie Jedlicka and
Madison Hill that gave the Mavericks just enough to sneak by the Red Wolves. Jedlicka's late two-kill rally lifted the junior to a team-high 19 kills, while Hill finish with 17. The Mavs picked up their second win in a row to improve to 8-5 overall and 2-1 in the league. Arkansas State fell to 10-6 and 2-1.
The win lifted the Mavs to a 10-9 series lead in the all-time series, winning for the first time against the Red Wolves since 2014 after dropping the previous six. UTA looks to ride its momentum into Saturday, hosting Little Rock at 6:30 p.m.
Alex Janak earned her second consecutive double-double and seventh of the season with a team-high 32 assists to go with 18 digs. She also finished with a match-high four aces.
Petra Manderson earned her 10th kill of the match late in the fifth set to earned a double-double with 14 digs.
QUOTABLE
Coach J.T. Wenger after the match...
"This was an awesome match and it was a lot of fun to be a part of. Arkansas State is always an excellent program and they continue to be so, we have had some fun matches with them in the past and this was no exception. The crowd was fantastic and our athletes really showed up to play."
What he liked from the match...
"One thing that stands out is our resiliency in this one. We battled back, we were up, we were down, we were up, we were able to come out on top and that is the way we like it."
Jedlicka after the...
"Coming out of practice yesterday we didn't have as strong of a practice, but coming out today it just clicked. Something great happened and we are going to playing like this, I know for sure."
Bouncing back in the fifth set...
"We were in the thought process of just playing to win and not to lose. Having a good mentality was very important and this game is very mental. We are very resilient, we wanted to win so bad. He pushes us to really want it and it really helps us."
SET ONE
It was a hot start for the Mavericks out of the gates with UTA storming out to a quick 5-1 lead, taking advantage of several ASU errors on the defensive side. The Red Wolves came back to make it as close as 12-10 midway through, but a five-point run sent ASU into a timeout with Hill picking up her fourth kill. Out of the break, the momentum stayed on the home team's side until late, but Arkansas State was unable to fight off a fourth set point to fall 25-21.
SET TWO
Things looked like they were going in a similar direction as the first with the Mavericks padding a lead midway through the set. UTA was hitting above .250 for much of the set, but the Red Wolves stayed on the heels of the Mavs to inch closer. At 24-23 in favor of UTA, Arkansas State stole away momentum and scored the set's final three points and even the match up with a 26-24 Set 2 victory.
SET THREE
UTA didn't let the momentum stay on the visitor's side long with a quick spurt to jump out to an early 3-1 lead. UTA matched the Red Wolves toe-to-toe to keep the advantage with Jedlicka getting into double-digit kill totals early on. The Mavs padded the lead up to 14-9, but ASU continued to battle and closed the gap down to just one midway through with UTA taking a timeout. Jedlicka answered the call once again with her team-leading 15th kill of the day. With ASU trying to replicate its second-set magic, the combination of Jedlicka and Hill took control. The duo helped UTA take the final four points of the set to clinch it 25-20, the team hitting .225 in the set compared to ASU's .098.
SET FOUR
A 6-1 lead sparked ASU's biggest lead of the match at 12-6 with the Mavs being unable to find an answer for ASU's Carlisa May, who picked up her 18th kill as part of the run. The wave of momentum continued out of the break with UTA unable to slow the attack. May finished with six kills in the fourth for ASU, while UTA could only knock down a total of seven kills, falling 25-15 to go to the deciding fifth.
SET FIVE
The Mavericks took early momentum in the deciding set with a quick 3-1 run, sending it up to 8-5 with the teams switching sides on the backside of a Hill smash in the middle. However, ASU rallied right back with three consecutive points and tied things at 8-8 with UTA taking a timeout. The timeout was just what Hill need as she answered the call with back-to-back slams to send the squads back to the bench off of a ASU timeout. Jedlicka didn't take to the break kindly, knocking down consecutive kills to give the Mavs a three-point edge late. Despite having multiple changes through long rallies, the three-point lead went down to one with consecutive attacks falling on the UTA side to trim it down to 13-12. The arm of Jedlicka put to rest any chances of an ASU comeback bit, with her final shot falling in the back corner to take the thriller.
MATCH NOTES
UTA is 8-1 when it takes the first set... The fourth set loss was the biggest deficit in a set during Sun Belt play... Jedlicka's 19 kills were her season high... May finished with a match-high 24 kills for ASU... UTA finishes its homestand with Little Rock on Saturday. UTA is 10-8 all-time against the Trojans.
