EDINBURG, Texas --- The UT Arlington volleyball team (15-8, 7-4) was defeated 25-8, 26-24, 25-17 on the road Saturday by UTRGV (20-5, 9-1) at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
 
Despite the loss, the Mavs remain in sole possession of fourth place in the WAC standings. They will now return home for their final three regular season matches, beginning next Saturday against Stephen F. Austin at noon.

"Today was a tough outing for the program," head coach J.T. Wenger said. "It was not our best day, but we stayed focused when it was challenging. We will learn and grow from this weekend as a whole and continue to improve over the final three conference matches."
 
UTRGV, which lost its first WAC match of the season on Thursday and currently sits tied with Utah Valley for first place on the conference standings, hit .435 for the match, including .667 in the opening set and .452 in the final set. In fact, they had six players hit at least .310 in the match.
 
Offensively, UT Arlington was led by the duo of Brianna Ford and Brooke Townsend, who combined for 17 kills. Ford had nine while adding four digs and three blocks (one solo), while Townsend added three digs. Sophie Skinner had a team-best 12 assists along with three digs, and Mollie Blank added 11 with five digs. Alli Wells notched her 10th match this year with at least three assists to go along with her team-high seven digs. Meredith Fisher had four blocks (one solo).
 
After a tough opening set in which they hit -.074, the Mavs lost a heartbreaking second frame that featured 13 ties and five lead changes. The set was tied at 19, 21, 22, 23 and 24. A kill from Kortney Puckett fought off a set point by UTRGV before the hosts finished it off with back-to-back points. In the final set, UT Arlington was within two (8-6) before UTRGV reeled off six of the next seven points. Despite that, the Mavs pulled within three (14-11), but the hosts went on a 6-0 run to take firm control of the set.
 
The loss ended UTA's four-match winning streak, as well as Ford's eight-match stretch with double-digit kills. The Mavs also fell to 5-2 in the road in WAC play.
 
Wells increased her career dig total to 1,572, which keeps her in eighth place on the program's all-time list behind Judith McGill (1,623, 1983-86). Townsend, meanwhile, bumped her career kill total to 1,268, which is 10th all-time behind Chris Rudiger (1,330, 1986-89).
 
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