ARLINGTON, TEXAS --- Brianna Ford provided a monstrous 22-kill, 13-dig performance in the UTA Classic opener as the UT Arlington women's volleyball team (4-0) remained undefeated on the season with a 27-25, 25-17, 25-22 win over Incarnate Word (4-1) inside the College Park Center Friday night.
 
With the triumph, the Mavs are now 4-0 for just the third time since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. They'll be back in action on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. against Presbyterian before closing out the weekend against Louisiana Tech at 6 p.m.
 
Should the Mavs win both matches on Saturday, they would become the first in 19 years and just the seventh team in the program's 50+ year history to start a season at least 6-0, joining the 2004 (6-0), 1987 (7-0), 1983 (6-0), 1981 (6-0), 1976 (6-0) and 1973 (7-0) teams.

"This was a nice team performance, especially from our pin hitters," head coach J.T. Wenger said. "Everybody was taking good, aggressive swings in tough situations. I thought defensively it took us a little while to get in a compete rhythm but I thought we made a lot of really nice defensive plays that kind of propelled us to an edge."
 
Ford led the Mavs with 22 kills while adding 13 digs, three blocks and an ace for her 27th career double-double. While it was the fifth time she's produced 20+ kills in a match, it's the most she's had of the three-set variety. Furthermore, it was her third career 20+ kill, 10+ dig outing.
 
 
On top of that, Ford moved past Bianca Sauls (852, 2007-10) for 25th place on the program's all-time kills list. With 869, her next target to pass is Stacey Koch (913, 2012-15).
 
In addition to Ford, the duo of Jalie Tritt (12) and Briana Brown (11) combined for 23 kills. In fact, those three combined to hit .298. Brown registered her fourth-consecutive match (35th career) with double-digit kills to open the season, and she hit over .300 for the third time. Tritt produced her second straight 10+ kill outing.
 
For the second-consecutive match and fourth-time in her career, Mollie Blank had 40+ assists as the senior had 43 distributions, which was just two shy of her season-high and allowed her to eclipse 1,400 in her career. Along with her 11 digs, she also claimed a 23rd career double-double.
 
Defensively, Alli Wells had a match-high 16 digs while Alyssa Duran contributed 10. For Wells, it was her 80th career outing with double-digits, including her 57th with at least 15. It also puts her 19 shy of reaching 1,700 in her career. Duran's 10+ effort pushed her career total of double-digit outings to 19.
 
Meanwhile, UTA racked up 16 block assists as a team, led by four apiece from Ava Burroughs and Kortney Puckett. In addition to the three apiece from Ford and Brown, Evyn Snook joined Blank with one apiece.
 
Blank and Duran also led the charge in aces with two apiece as UTA totaled seven as a team.
 

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PLAY-BY-PLAY
Down by as many as five and trailing 21-18 in the first set, UTA used a 4-0 spurt featuring a pair of kills and an ace from Ford to take their first lead of the match. Back-to-back kills from Brown gave the Mavs a set point, but Incarnate Word fought it off. Brown then punched down two more in a row to cap a 27-25 win.
 
The second set was locked in a 9-9 tie, but the Mavs scored five straight and 12 of the next 13 points to seize a 21-10 lead. Ford, Tritt and Brown combined for seven kills during the run. Snook later closed the set with a kill from the left side.
 
In somewhat similar fashion to the opening set, Incarnate Word held a 20-17 lead, but UTA scored three straight and seven of the next eight points to force match point. Two plays later, Puckett served up a successful attack for the match-winner.
 
NOTES
With the victory, head coach J.T. Wenger achieved his 95th career victory as he continues his march toward becoming one of six coaches in program history to reach the century mark, joining 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).

With Friday's victory, the Mavs improved to 4-2 all-time against Incarnate Word. Overall, they are now 534-294-6 all-time against teams from the state of Texas. Saturday's outing against Presbyterian will be the first meeting between the two programs.

Furthermore, UT Arlington is now 37-14 all-time in home openers, including a 13-1 record over the past 14.

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