OREM, Utah --- In a battle with three of the sets decided by just two points, two-time defending WAC tournament champion Utah Valley (10-7, 4-1) defeated UT Arlington (11-7, 3-3) 25-16, 23-25, 25-23, 25-23 inside Lockhart Arena on Thursday.
 
With the loss, the Mavericks are now tied with New Mexico State and Sam Houston for fifth place in the WAC standings. It was their first road conference loss (3-1) this year. They'll face Seattle (4-8, 0-4) on the road Saturday at 4 p.m.
 
"After a shaky first set, we battled hard and were in a position to win the remaining sets." UT Arlington head coach J.T. Wenger said. "We did many things well enough to win, but just let a few too many opportunities slip away.  We will learn and grow from this match to improve throughout the rest of the season."

Despite the loss, Brooke Townsend was an offensive force for UTA as the graduate senior tallied a match-high 15 kills along with two digs while finishing just one shy of matching her season-high in successful attacks. In doing so, she pushed her career kill total to 1,219, which puts her 27 shy of eclipsing Fannie Burton (1,245, 1991-92) for 11th place in program history.
 
Briana Brown (11) and Brianna Ford (10) combined for 21 kills, while Meredith Fisher chipped in seven along with three blocks. Ford added 10 digs, four blocks and three aces to achieve yet another double-double - the 11th of the season and 24th of her career. It was also her third-consecutive such performance and her fourth over the past seven matches.
 
Sophie Skinner led the Mavericks in assists with 22 while adding five digs and an ace. Mollie Blank also had a solid performance from the setter position with 17 assists, five digs and a kill. In fact, it was the third-highest assist total for the third-year student-athlete this year and her most since notching 38 against Texas A&M-Commerce on Sept. 2.
 
Defensively, Alli Wells notched a match-high 16 digs to push her career total to 1,481. She is now 70 shy of surpassing Ana de Oliveira (1,550, 1985-88) for eighth-most in program history.

The trio of Devon Martinka (5 kills, 4 digs), Kortney Puckett (3 kills, 5 blocks, 3 digs, 2 aces) and Alyssa Duran (3 assists, 3 digs) also contributed in the match. Overall, the Mavericks had 10 players record at least one dig and six players had at least one assist.
 
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