ARLINGTON, Texas - The UT Arlington volleyball team fell just short of its fifth consecutive Sun Belt conference win, falling to Arkansas State in 5 sets (18-25, 25-15, 25-16, 22-25, 13-15) on Friday night inside College Park Center.
 
The loss drops the Mavs to 15-11 overall and 7-7 in conference play, while the Red Wolves improve to 15-10 overall and 6-7 in league play.
 
Madison Hill and Bre Walp led the Mavs with 15 kills each. Hill also added 3 blocks, a service ace and .429 hitting percentage, while Walp added one block and an assist to go along with a .538 hitting percentage. The Mav setters, Jessica Stancliff and Kylee Kapp, turned in 26 and 28 assists on the night, respectively.
 
The Mavs recorded seven service aces through five sets, including two from Petra Manderson, who fell just one dig short of a double-double as she finished the match with 10 kills and 9 digs. Brooke Townsend added 11 kills and Madelyn St. Germain led UTA with 28 digs.
 
SET 1 | UTA 18, Arkansas State 25 (ASU leads the match 1-0)
Tied at 6-6, the Red Wolves used an 11-5 run to take a 6 point lead at 17-11 forcing head coach J.T. Wenger to call a timeout. UTA responded after the timeout and went on a 4-0 run to cut A-State's lead to two points (17-15). The Red Wolves took 8 of the final 11 points of the set to pick up the 25-18 win and grab an early 1-0 lead in the match. Hill led UTA in the set with 7 kills and a .750 hitting percentage, while Kapp chipped in 9 assists.
 
SET 2 | UTA 25, Arkansas State 15 (UTA ties the match at 1-1)
With the set tied at 5-5, UTA used a 9-1 run to grab a 14-6 lead over the Red Wolves. Arkansas State cut UTA's lead down to 5 points (16-11), but the Mavs closed the set on a 9-4 run to pick up the win (25-15). The Mavericks hit .515 and only committed two errors in the frame.
 
SET 3 | UTA 25, Arkansas State 16 (UTA leads the match 2-1)
With the set tied at 11-11, UTA went on an 8-1 run to take a 19-12 advantage. A service ace from Kapp gave UTA its largest lead of the set (8 points; 22-14) and UTA went on to secure a 25-16 win in the third set to grab a 2-1 lead in the match. Manderson led the Mavs in the third set with 4 kills, 4 digs, a service ace and one block. Devon Martinka added 3 kills, while both both Alli Wells and St. Germain tallied 6 digs a piece.
 
SET 4 | UTA 22, Arkansas State 25 (Arkansas State ties the match at 2-2)
The fourth set was a battle and was played closely. After surviving a pair of Maverick runs that cut the deficit to one and tied up the match at 21-all, A-State took four of the final five points to force a match-deciding fifth set.
 
SET 5 | UTA 13, Arkansas State 15 (Arkansas State wins the match 3-2)
A-State grabbed the momentum early in the final set, taking a quick 5-3 lead. A 3-0 run, highlighted by kills from Walp and Manderson pushed the Mavericks ahead (11-10), before the Red Wolves reclaimed the lead at 13-12 on a kill and a block.
 
Facing match point, the Mavericks cut their deficit to 14-13 after an Arkansas St. service error, but ASU ended things with a kill to take the set and match.
 
NEXT UP
The Mavs play host to the Trojans of Little Rock in the final regular season home match of the 2019 schedule on Sunday, Nov. 10 at noon. Sunday will also be Senior Day for the Mavericks.
 
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