SAN MARCOS, Texas - Playing in the Sun Belt Tournament semifinals for the third time in the program's seven seasons in the league, UTA dropped a hard-fought match to No. 2 Coastal Carolina 3-1 (24-26, 23-25, 25-23, 19-25) at Texas State's Strahan Arena on Saturday night.
 
"Our team should be really proud of the effort the put forth," said head coach J.T. Wenger. "We beat two really good teams to get here and we pushed Coastal to the brink. We're playing some really good volleyball right now and our team should be really proud of themselves.
 
The Mavs (18-13) will now await a potential bid to the postseason National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC). The NIVC will involve 32 to 40 of the nation's top women's Division I Volleyball teams. All games, including the semifinals and championship, are hosted by participating schools. Every round is single elimination.
 
The 32 to 40 team field will be announced late Sunday, Dec. 1, 2019. All information will be disseminated via the website at www.womensnivc.com that night, a few hours after the NCAA bracket is announced. The first round will kick off Thursday, Dec. 5, with the event culminating on Tuesday, Dec. 17 with the championship.
 
 Madison Hill and Brooke Townsend led UTA with 12 kills each. The 2019 Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year Madelyn St. Germain finished with 25 digs and a pair of service aces. Bre Walp added 9 kills, 3 blocks and a couple digs, while Kylie Jedlicka chipped in with 6 kills and 8 digs. Jessica Stancliff and Kylee Kapp recorded 27 assists and 15 assists, respectively.
 
Coastal Carolina outhit the Mavs .317-.227 and won the blocks battle 22-11.
 
SET ONE
UTA raced out to a 7-2 start and didn't let up as that lead was extended to six, 13-7, before the Chants went on an extended 9-4 scoring run to pull within one point, 17-16. CCU eventually tied the match several times, but the Mavericks never trailed in the opening set until the Chanticleers opened up a one-point lead, 24-23, before going on to secure the set with a 26-24 triumph.
 
The Chanticleers hit an impressive .459 in the opening set with only two attacking errors, but UTA was also very clean with just three errors on its way to a .273 clip. Hill led the Mavs with five kills in the opening frame in six attempts.
 
SET TWO
CCU carried that momentum from the first-set win into the start of the second as the Chants held an early 3-0 advantage before UTA flipped the script and opened up its own three-point edge, 10-7 – a lead which eventually grew to four at 13-9. However, Coastal mounted another comeback and eventually tied things up at 14-all before the two sides traded points across the net with neither side leading by more than one until the Chanticleers created a two-point separation, 21-19.
 
That lead eventually grew to 24-21, and UTA saved two Coastal set points at 24-21 and 24-22 to pull within 24-23. However, the Chants used a timeout at that juncture and responded with the decisive point out of that break to take the second set, 25-23, and grab a 2-0 lead in the match
 
After both sides connected at good rate in the first set, CCU and UTA had identical .167 hitting percentages in the second set. The Mavs recorded six blocks in the set, while the Chants had 10; there were two total blocks in the first set – both by Coastal.
 
SET THREE
Coastal commenced the set on a 5-0 run, prompting a UTA timeout. The Mavs responded and pulled within two, 7-5, and that point came after a successful UTA coach's challenge. CCU put the match under protest claiming that the challenge came too late after the whistle, but after a several-minute delay the decision was upheld.
 
Back on the court, UTA fought back to tie the set at 15-15 before CCU came right back to open up a three-point edge. However, the resilient Mavs showed their grit and shortly later orchestrated a 4-0 scoring run as part of a 7-2 overall push to forge ahead 23-21. Coastal quickly re-tied the set at 23-all, but behind a Townsend kill and blocks from Hill and Petra Manderson UTA finally had set decided by two points go its way, 25-23.
 
SET FOUR
A re-energized Maverick club jumped out to a 12-8 lead, back-ended by a 3-0 scoring run. However, Coastal had a response to that push by the Mavs and put together a 5-0 run of its own to go back in front, 13-12. Unfortunately for UTA, the lead it possessed at 12-11 would be the last of the match.
 
With the set level at 13-13, Coastal ended on a flurry, winning 12 of the final 18 points to take the set, 25-19, and match, 3-1.
 
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