ABILENE, Texas – The UT Arlington volleyball team dropped a pair of four-set matches on opening day Friday night, losing to Incarnate Word (25-27, 25-19, 22-25, 20-25) and Abilene Christian (23-25, 21-25, 30-28, 16-25) at the ACU Invitational.

MATCH ONE | UTA 1, UIW 3
Brooke Townsend led the team with 12 kills on 47 attempts.  Nya Blair joined Townsend with double-digit kills, adding 10 of her own.  Mollie Blank and Jessica Stancliff paced the match, finishing with 25 assists and 18 assists, respectively.  Alyssa Durann (24) and Brianna Ford (22) led the Mavs in digs.  UTA finished with 10 blocks as a team, led by freshman Monica LaFleur (5).
 
As a team, the Mavericks had a .153 attacking percentage and allowed the Cardinals to hit .167.
 
SET 1 | UTA 25, UIW 27 | UIW LEADS 1-0
The Mavericks and Cardinals battled throughout the first set, but UTA was able to get an upper hand after a kill from Nya Blair put the Mavs up 12-10. A fourth kill by Nya Blair put the Mavericks up 17-14 and forced a UIW timeout. Coming out of the timeout, the Cardinals won five of the next seven points to tie the set at 19. The Cardinals would continue scoring, taking a 24-21 lead. A late rally by UTA tied the set at 25, but UIW would win the next two to take set one.

SET 2 | UTA 25, UIW 19 | MATCH TIED 1-1
UTA used an early 3-0 run to take a 10-7 lead, capped off by a kill from Briana Ford – her fifth of the match. The Mavericks continued to open up the set, extending their lead to five points with a kill by Monica LaFleur to make it 20-15. The Maverick held on to the lead, taking set two by six points.

SET 3 | UTA 22, UIW 25 | UIW LEADS 2-1
The third set was neck and neck until late in the set. With UTA leading 16-15, the Cardinals used a 3-0 run to take a two-point lead and force a UTA timeout. The Cardinals extended their lead to 23-19 and staved off a late UTA rally to take the set and a 2-1 match lead.

SET 4 | UTA 20, UIW 25 | UIW WINS 3-1
After falling behind 4-1 to start the set, the Mavericks went on a 6-0 scoring run, capped by Brooke Townsend's 10^th kill, to put UTA up 7-4. Not to be outdone, the Cardinals answered the Mavericks run with one of their own, scoring eight straight before a Townsend kill ended the run. UIW held on to their lead, taking the final set and winning the match 3-1.


MATCH TWO | UTA 1, ACU 3
Brooke Townsend led the Mavericks with 13 kills on 36 attempts.  Brianna Ford (12) and Monica LaFleur (11) both added double-digit kills. Mollie Blank and Jessica Stancliff paced the match with 20 assists each. 

Ford picked up her first double-double of the season with 15 digs to go along with her 12 kills. Mollie Blank and Jessical Stancliff also picked up a double-doubles, adding 10 digs of their own. Alli Wells led UTA with 20 digs.

SET 1 | UTA 23, ACU 25 | ACU LEADS 1-0
The teams went back-and-forth throughout the first half of the set, each establishing a 3-0 run. With the match tied at 19, the Mavericks went on a 4-1 run, capped off from an ace from Brianna Ford. Leading 23-20, the Wildcats scored the final five points of the set to win 25-20.

SET 2 | UTA 21, ACU 25 | ACU LEADS 2-0
The Wildcats used an early 3-0 run to take a four-point, 7-3 advantage in the early part of set two. Midway through the set, the Mavericks used two kills from Brooke Townsend to tie the set at 13, but a series of 3-0 runs by the Wildcats gave ACU a late 21-16 advantage. The breathing room was all ACU needed, taking the set 25-21.

SET 3 | UTA 30, ACU 28 | ACU LEADS 2-1
After falling being 4-1 early on, the Mavericks tied the set at six with a kill from Briana Brown, forcing an ACU timeout. With the match tied a 12 the Mavericks used a 3-0 run to take a 16-13 lead over the Wildcats. ACU answered a few points later with their own 3-0 run to tie the set at 18. Neither team could make the necessary run needed until the match was tied at 28, when the Mavericks found a way to rattle off back-to-back points and take the third set.

SET 4 | UTA 17, ACU 25 | ACU WINS 3-1
The Wildcats jumped out to an early 6-1 lead, forcing a Maverick timeout.  The attack continued, as ACU extended their lead to ten points, taking a 17-7 lead. UTA was unable to overcome the deficit, dropping the final set 25- 16.

UP NEXT
The Mavericks will take on Incarnate Word tomorrow at 3 pm to round out the ACU Invitational.

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