AIR FORCE ACADEMY, COLO. --- The UT Arlington women's volleyball team kicked off its 51st season in program history with a 25-22, 22-25, 25-18, 25-18 win over Bryant University in the opener of the Amy Svoboda Memorial Classic hosted by the Air Force Academy on Friday night.
 
The Mavs will conclude the event with a pair of matches on Saturday against Rhode Island (11 a.m.) and Air Force (8:30 p.m.). UTA is a combined 6-0 all-time against them.
 
In what was the first-ever meeting between the two programs, the Mavs used a balanced offense led by a combined 39 kills from Briana Brown (16), Paige Reagor (13) and Brianna Ford (10). In fact, Brown and Reagor teamed up to hit .450 as a duo while UTA hit .250 as a team.
 
Behind their offensive performances, Ford (48), Brown (32) and Reagor (23) added to their career match totals for double-digit kills while Reagor produced her first as a Mav after transferring in from Charleston Southern. Brown also registered her 11th career match with at least 15 kills.
 
Guiding the offense was the duo of Sophie Skinner and Mollie Blank, who tallied 21 assists apiece. Ford added four to match her career-high while Alli Wells notched three. Blank added a team-best three aces, and Alyssa Duran chipped in two as the duo had five of the team's seven in the match.
 
Reagor led the team with seven blocks, including a pair of the solo variety. Puckett chipped in six with one solo. Brown (5), Ford (3) and Tritt (3) each added multiple blocks. Ford led the team with eight digs, and Puckett finished with six, which was one shy of her career-high.
 
The Mavs jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the opening set and led by six following a kill from Puckett. The lead hovered around four down the stretch before Reagor closed out the 25-22 win with her fourth kill.
 
Bryant responded by producing the first five points of the second set. A 4-0 rally that included a kill and three blocks from Reagor helped the Mavs tie it up at eight apiece, and after Bryant responded to take a 10-8 lead, UTA scored six of the next seven points to take a 14-11 advantage. Brown and Puckett capped the rally with a block.
 
The teams then exchanged mini runs but Bryant took control of the set with a 7-0 run that saw them take a 23-19 lead before closing out a 25-22 win to even up the match.
 
In the third set, UTA led 8-7 before reeling off eight consecutive points to seize a nine-point advantage. Bryant was able to trim their deficit to four, but Reagor tallied a kill to stop a rally. Brown then teamed with Puckett for a block and added a kill before an attack error from the Bulldogs ended the 25-18 set.
 
The Mavs never trailed in the fourth set. Brown punched down a pair of kills during a 3-0 run that saw her team take a 10-5 lead. An ace from Duran pushed the margin to six moments later. The lead was as large as seven, and UTA closed out the match with a block.
 
NOTES
The Mavs are now 32-18-1 all-time in season openers, including a 10-3 record since 2011. This was the second time in program history that UTA opened in the state of Colorado, joining the 1996 team. The matchup also tied this year's squad for the fourth-earliest opener behind the Aug. 24 start of the 2007, 2012 and 2018 teams.
 
Head coach J.T. Wenger moved within eight victories of 100 in his career, which includes a 92-78 record as he looks to join Mary Ridgway (254, 1976-81), Diane Seymour (211, 2004-16), Lisa Love (199, 1982-88), Janine Smith (180, 180-137) and Jody Conradt (111, 1973-75) as one of six coaches in program history to reach the century mark.
 
Bryant is one of three first-time non-conference opponents on this year's slate. The Mavs will face Presbyterian and Central Arkansas over the next few weeks.
 
With her 10 kills, Ford increased her career total to 825, which puts her within two of passing Anita Allgood (826, 1986-89) for 27th on the program's career list.
 
With her 21 assists, Blank now has 1,311 in her career while Skinner's 21 assists give her 713 over one-plus seasons in Arlington.
 
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