AIR FORCE ACADEMY, COLO. ---A fortunate call on a replay review late in the fifth set helped the UT Arlington women's volleyball team (3-0) knock off host Air Force (2-1) in a thrilling championship match of the Amy Svoboda Memorial Classic on Saturday evening inside the Cadet East Gym.
 
After seeing a 7-4 lead slip away with Air Force scoring two straight to tie the deciding set at nine apiece, Brianna Ford had a left-side attack called long. On review, a touch was called, and the Mavs eventually reeled off the next five points. Despite the hosts fighting off a pair of match points, Ford capped the night with her match-high 14th kill.
 
In doing so, UTA finished undefeated in the season opening event after a long day that featured an opening match at 10:30 a.m. and concluded just before 11 p.m. Mountain time. The title match didn't start until 8:15 after being delayed 45 minutes due to the previous match running over.
 
The Mavs improved to 27-21 in five-set matches in seventh-year head coach J.T. Wenger's tenure, and they overcame a .145 team hitting percentage that featured six solo and 28 assisted blocks from Air Force.

Paige Reagor, who had 33 kills while hitting .459 and producing 15 blocks over three matches, was named the MVP of the event. Alli Wells was also named to the all-classic team after tallying 33 digs.

Amy Svoboda Memorial Classic All-Tournament Team
MVP: Paige Reagor, UT Arlington
Alli Wells, UT Arlington
Aaryn Scires, Air Force
Jordan Suan, Air Force
Aubrey Lapour, Bryant
Hannah Blaney, Rhode Island
 
UTA 3, AIR FORCE 2 (25-22, 22-25, 26-24, 20-25, 15-11)
Four Mavs finished with double-digit kills against Air Force, led by Ford's 14. Briana Brown registered 13 for her third consecutive such match to open the season while Reagor and Jalie Tritt each added 12.
 
Tritt tacked on 13 digs to register her second career double-double. Reagor, who hit a team-best .429, added a team-best four blocks and even had the set-winning assist in the opening frame. Ford contributed eight digs, three blocks, two assists and an ace.
 
Mollie Blank tallied a match-high 45 assists. It was her third career outing with at least 40, and it was the second-highest total of her career behind a 53-assist output against Tarleton on Feb. 5, 2021. Wells, who matched her career-best with five assists, led the Mavs with 15 digs and tied Blank with a team-high two aces.
 
A few others also played roles in the victory: Kortney Puckett finished with five kills, two blocks and a pair of digs; Alyssa Duran had five digs; Sophie Skinner had two assists and two digs; and Samantha Glenn contributed a key ace in the fifth set and finished with a pair of digs. Sophie Ocampo, a redshirt freshman, also recorded her first collegiate kill to give the Mavs a 24-23 lead in the first set.
 
In the opening set, neither team led by more than two until Air Force took a 14-11 lead on an attack error from the Mavs. UTA responded to tie the score at 16, 20 and 21, although the Falcons appeared in control with a 23-21 lead. Reagor, however, hammered home a kill, and a ball handling error knotted it at 23. Ocampo followed with her first kill, and Brown finished off the set with her fourth termination.
 
UTA continued the momentum into the second frame, jumping out to a 9-4 lead. Air Force battled back with four straight points and eventually tied it at 13 apiece. The teams then went back and forth as the Mavs held a 22-20 lead following a block from Ford and Puckett. The hosts then called a timeout and responded with five straight points to even up the match.
 
The third set saw Air Force seize a 16-13 lead midway through but the Mavs won five of the next seven points to tie it up at 18. The two teams then exchanged the next five points. Shortly thereafter, the Mavs had a pair of set points erased, leading to a 24-all tie. A service error and an attack error by the Falcons, however, gave UTA a 2-1 match lead.
 
The two teams then exchanged blows in the fourth set as Air Force jumped out to a 9-3 lead. UTA responded with seven of the next eight points to tie it, setting up another back-and-forth tussle before the Falcons went on a 5-0 run to take a 24-19 lead. Tritt fought off a set point with a kill, but a failed setter attack forced a fifth set.
 
In the fifth, a kill from Reagor gave the Mavs a 7-4 lead. Air Force answered with three of the next four points, which eventually led to a 9-9 tie and the crucial replay review.
 
UTA 3, RHODE ISLAND 0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-17)
The Mavs were led offensively by Brown, who recorded a match-high 11 kills while hitting .318 with three blocks. Reagor and Ford each contributed eight kills while Tritt chipped in six. Freshmen Evyn Snook and Glenn each recorded their first collegiate kills. Reagor (.500) and Tritt (.444) contributed nicely in hitting percentage.
 
Blank notched her eighth-career match with at least 30 kills as the senior totaled 33 against Rhode Island. Wells, who led all players with 14 digs, added a pair of assists while registering her 78th career match with double-digit digs. Reagor had a match-best four blocks, which included one of the solo variety, while six others tallied at least one. Glenn and Puckett tied for the team-high in aces with two apiece.
 
In the opening set, Reagor produced back-to-back kills to knot the score at five apiece. A short time later, Wells dug a ball that became a kill to even it up at eight. In all, the set featured seven ties before the Mavs finished off the set on a 9-2 run, which included back-to-back kills from Brown at the end.
 
UTA jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the second set, capped by a trio of kills from the duo of Ford and Puckett. Tritt's kill made it 10-6, and Brown made it 15-9 with a successful attack of her own. Back-to-back kills from Snook and Ford, followed by an ace from Puckett pushed the margin to 21-15 and forced a Rhode Island timeout. Despite back-to-back points later from URI, Reagor finished off the frame with a kill.
 
In the third set, the Mavs used a 3-0 run that featured three blocks from Reagor along with one apiece from Blank and Brown, to seize an 11-8 lead. Glenn notched her second ace to push the margin to seven, and Brown later closed the set once again with a kill.
 
As a team, the Mavs hit .348 with 42 kills. In doing so, they improved to 16-1 when hitting at least .300 during Wenger's tenure.
 
NOTES
Saturday's victories helped Wenger push his career win total to 94 as he looks to become the sixth coach in program history to reach the century mark.
 
With her 22 kills on the day, Ford has 847 in her career, which moved her past Anita Allgood (826, 1986-89) and Jinni Touchstone (843, 1995-98) for 26th on the program's all-time list. Next up is Bianca Sauls (852, 2007-10).
 
Wells, meanwhile, bumped her career dig total to 1,665 this weekend as she chases the program's all-time record, which is held by Alicia Shaffer (2,033, 2008-11). Blank moved within 11 assists of reaching 1,400 in her career. She currently sits 12th on the program's all-time list.
 
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