LAS CRUCES, N.M. --- Kaylen Beaty provided a key ace late in a critical third set as the UT Arlington volleyball team (15-7, 7-3) pushed its winning streak to four with a 25-13, 19-25, 27-25, 25-23 win over New Mexico State (12-9, 4-5) inside the Pan American Center on Thursday.
 
"I'm really proud of the effort and execution from our program tonight," UT Arlington head coach J.T. Wenger said. "We went on runs and were able to limit those of NMSU. We served with a purpose and played great defense around our block."
 
Brooke Townsend led the Mavs offensively, finishing with a season-high 17 kills at a .464 clip to move into the program's top 10 all-time in career kills with 1,260. In doing so, surpassed Fannie Burton (1,245, 1991-94) and Teresa Ogden (1,251, 1982-83), and it was her 10th match with at least 10 kills this year, too.
 
Outside of Townsend, the duo of Brianna Ford and Kortney Puckett each totaled double-digit kills while combining for 23 total. Ford finished with 13 along with eight digs and two blocks while Puckett registered 10 kills at a .600 clip. Along with her Sept. 10 outing against UTSA (11 kills, .625), it is the second time this season Puckett reached double-digit kills while hitting at least .600.
 
For Ford, it was her eighth-consecutive match with double-digit kills. She is averaging just under 16 per contest during that stretch, and her performance on Thursday helped the Amarillo, Texas native eclipse 300 kills on the season.

Helping lead an offense that hit .308 in the opening set and .316 in the third set was the duo of Mollie Blank and Sophie Skinner. Blank finished with a team-best 26 assists in what was her fifth-consecutive match with at least 20. She also tied Skinner for third on the team in digs with seven. Meanwhile, Skinner added 15 assists and a team-best two aces.
 
On the defensive side, Alli Wells finished with 20 digs, notching her third-consecutive match with at least that many and the sixth in conference play alone. In doing so, she bumped her career total to 1,565, which pushed her past Ana de Oliveira (1,550, 1985-88) and Torie Dacus (1,564, 2004-07) into eighth on the program's all-time list. Overall, the reigning WAC defensive player of the week has 37 matches with 20-plus digs in her career, including 10 this season.
 
Meredith Fisher finished fourth on the team in kills with six while leading the team with five blocks (three solo). Devon Martinka also chipped in four kills to help the cause while Alyssa Duran had five digs playing near her hometown of El Paso, Texas.
 
Trailing 20-18 in the third after splitting the first two sets, the Mavs rallied for three straight behind back-to-back kills from Ford and Puckett to set up a back-and-forth finish. New Mexico State fought off a set point before a kill from Fisher staved off a set point for the Mavs. Following that, Beaty entered to serve, delivered an ace and served out a 27-25 victory. In the fourth, UT Arlington built a 19-11 lead and held off a late rally from the Aggies to claim the victory.
 
The Mavs, who are now 5-1 on the road in WAC play, will now travel to face UTRGV on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Vaqueros suffered their first conference loss this year on Thursday against Stephen F. Austin.
 
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