ARLINGTON, Texas --- Behind the best offensive performance the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) has seen this year, Brianna Ford and the UT Arlington volleyball team (14-7, 6-3) defeated Sam Houston (6-18, 3-7) in hard-fought match, 19-25, 27-25, 25-20, 28-26, inside the College Park Center (CPC) on Saturday.

"I think our serving picked up," head coach J.T. Wenger said of bouncing back from down a set. "Once we put a little more pressure on them, they became a little more predictable. Their middles, No. 5 in particular, (were) hot. So, being able to pull their setter off, that really gave us some flexibility as blockers."
 
After winning nine in a row and then losing three in a row, the Mavericks have won three straight to move into fourth place in the WAC standings behind UTRGV (8-0), Utah Valley (6-1) and Stephen F. Austin (7-2). UTA will head on the road next week for matchups with New Mexico State on Thursday and UTRGV on Saturday. Following that, they'll conclude the regular season with three straight at home.
 
Ford, who finished with 25 kills, a .404 hitting percentage, five digs and five blocks, not only established a new career-high in kills, but she registered the most in any conference match by a WAC player this year, topping UTRGV's Sarah Cruz, who had 24 against Grand Canyon on Thursday.
 
Cruz does have two matches with higher kill totals in non-conference play (30 vs TAMUCC and 26 vs North Texas), but those came in five-set matches and Ford also hit .404 against Sam Houston, which is the second-best by any conference player with at least 22 kills in any match this year - behind herself, which came against South Florida on Sept. 9 when she hit .600 with 23 kills.
 
On top of that, Ford now has 16 matches with 10+ kills this year, including seven straight, as well as 43 in her career. It was her third career performance with at least 20, as well, including two this year and her 23 against Tarleton on Feb. 5, 2021.
 
Brooke Townsend finished second on the team against Sam Houston with 10 kills, which gives her 1,243 in her career - just three shy of passing Fannie Burton (1,245, 1991-94) and nine shy of Teresa Ogden (1,251, 1982-83) on the program's all-time list.
 
The trio of Devon Martinka (8), Meredith Fisher (5) and Nya Blair (5) combined for 18 kills. Fisher, who added a team-best eight blocks (one solo), finished second on the team in hitting percentage (.267). Martinka, along with Kortney Puckett and Briana Brown, chipped in a pair of blocks apiece.
 
The offensive distribution was led, once again, by the duo of Sophie Skinner (26) and Mollie Blank (22), who combined for 48 assists. Alyssa Duran added four helpers while notching her fourth double-digit dig performance of the season (10). She has at least seven digs in seven of the past eight games.
 
For Blank, the third-year setter also finished second on the team with 13 digs for her second double-double over the past three matches, as well as her third of the season and 19th of her career. In terms of assists, it was her fourth straight match with at least 17, and she's averaging just under 21 per outing over that stretch.
 
Defensively, Alli Wells finished with a team-high 20 digs, along with three assists. It is her fifth match with at least 20 over nine WAC outings. Already among the program's top 10 in career digs, she needs just six more now to surpass Ana de Oliveira (1,550, 1985-88) and move up another spot.
 
Despite scoring four of the first five points in the opening set and leading 10-7, UT Arlington saw Sam Houston score 11 of the next 12 points with the only non-point coming on a service error. They used that momentum to take a one-set lead with a six-point victory.
 
Down 14-9 in the second set, the Mavericks reeled off four straight and six of the next seven to tie it at 15 and set up a back-and-forth finish. After fighting off a set point behind a kill from Martinka, UTA got a crucial ace from Wells before an attack error by Sam Houston's Alyssa Fielder evened up the match despite Duran, after the Mavs ran out of subs, having to play front row for the final two rotations. She even recorded one attack attempt.
 
An 8-0 run by UTA in the third set opened up a 12-4 lead but Sam Houston responded with a 7-0 run. Eventually tied at 19 apiece, UTA led 21-20 before closing the set on a 4-0 run, highlighted by a trio of kills from Ford, Townsend and Fisher along with a set-winning double-block from Martinka and Fisher.
 
The Mavs led 14-9 in the fourth set before the Bearkats rallied to take 22-20, 23-21 and 24-22 leads in an attempt to force a fifth set. A kill from Ford and an ace from Puckett tied it up at 24. After staving off those two set points, Ford notched another kill to save a third one and then added one more to set up match point (26-25). Despite a double-block from the visitors, Ford notched her 25th kill to set up another match point, which was won by the Mavs on an attack error from Sam Houston.
 
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