ARLINGTON, TEXAS --- Stephen F. Austin (23-3, 12-0 WAC) survived a battle to produce a 25-23, 25-22, 20-25, 25-20 win over the UT Arlington volleyball team (17-8, 6-6 WAC) inside the College Park Center on Monday night.
The set victory by the Mavs was just the fifth defeat in conference play for SFA.
"We did a lot of things very well tonight," UTA head coach
J.T. Wenger said. "Disappointing finish for sure but we should be very proud of how we did play. We just need to execute a few more plays and we'll be in good shape. It was definitely a lot of growth from where we've been, and I'm excited where we're going."
Despite the loss,
Alli Wells became just the second player in program history to reach 2,000 career digs early in the third set. She finished with 12 digs and six assists in the match, and she will enter Thursday's 6 p.m. matchup against Utah Valley with 2,006 in her career. That puts her just 28 shy of surpassing Alicia Shaffer (2,033, 2008-11) for the program's all-time record, and she also has 99 career double-digit performances.
"It's exciting," Wenger said. "She's a fantastic athlete, a competitor, and I'm proud of her commitment to UTA volleyball."
The best player for either team on the court Monday was
Brianna Ford, who continued her domination of the rest of the conference with match highs in kills (17) and digs (19) along with a .324 hitting percentage, two aces, two blocks (one solo) and one assist.
It was Ford's eighth straight match with at least 15 kills and seventh double-double over the past eight matches, including her 13th of the season and 39th of her career, which ties her with Chris Rudiger (1986-89) for 15th most in program history. Over the past eight matches, Ford is hitting .291 while averaging 18.9 kills, 13.1 digs, 4.1 blocks, 1.5 aces and 1.3 assists.
Ford also pushed her career kill total to 1,174, which moved her past Amanda Aguilera (1,164, 2008-11) for 13th place on the program's all-time list. Next up on the list would be Fannie Burton (1,245, 1991-94).
Paige Reagor led the Mavs in hitting percentage (.474) while adding 12 kills, two blocks and a dig. It was her sixth-consecutive match with double-digit terminations, and she also has at least five blocks in four of those. Over the past two outings alone, Reagor has 25 kills and just two errors over 40 attempts.
Mollie Blank produced her fourth double-double of the season - and the 26th of her career - with 39 assists, 14 digs, three kills, two blocks and an ace. She finished just one distribution shy of producing her sixth outing of 40+ over the past seven.
Freshman
Evyn Snook recorded a season-best four aces along with four digs.
The evening featured the return of
Briana Brown, who missed the past six matches. She finished with six kills - third on the team - while adding two digs over a pair of sets.
NOTES
- With SFA's victory, the all-time series between the two teams is now tied at 31-31-1 all-time. The Mavs are 15-11 at home in the series.
- 10 different Mavs recorded at least one dig against SFA with nine of them notching at least two.
- UTA recorded seven aces against SFA, which is tied for the team's fourth-most in a match this year.
– #BuckEm –
