ARLINGTON, TEXAS --- The UT Arlington volleyball team (9-2) knocked off rival North Texas 26-24, 28-26, 25-20 in the UTA Invitational opener inside the College Park Center on Thursday night behind a trio of double-doubles, strong serving and key plays.
 
The victory snapped a four-match losing streak to North Texas, including a straight set loss inside the CPC last year. On top of that, head coach J.T. Wenger picked up his 100th career victory with the outcome, becoming the sixth coach in UTA history to reach the milestone.
 
Action in the UTA Invitational now shifts over to the Arlington ISD Athletics Center the next two days as the Mavs will face McNeese on Friday and Texas A&M - Commerce on Saturday. More details on that can be found here.
 
Jalie Tritt, who had a match-high 14 kills along with 12 digs in what was her fourth double-double of the season, teamed with Briana Brown for back-to-back kills to help the Mavs fight off a set point in the opening frame before a service ace from Evyn Snook gave UTA the early lead.
 
In the second set, North Texas had four set points erased, including back-to-back ones while up 24-22 late, as a kill from Alexis Bull and an errant UNT attack knotted it at 24. Following that, North Texas had two more set points erased on a bad set and a termination from Tritt. Kortney Puckett followed Tritt's attack with a kill of her own, and then she teamed with Mollie Blank for the set-clinching block.
 
Blank ultimately finished with a match-high 35 assists along with 10 digs and a career-high-tying five blocks.
 
North Texas held a 15-14 advantage in a back-and-forth final set and trailed UTA by just one (20-19) before the Mavs closed on a 5-1 run. The spurt started with back-to-back kills from Brianna Ford, including a monster shot from the right side on the second one. Alli Wells added a service ace for a 23-19 lead. Moments later, another double block from Puckett and Blank ended the match.
 
Ford's final line included 10 kills, 10 digs and two aces. In fact, UTA got at least one ace from six different players while producing a season-best eight as a team. Wells tacked on a match-high 19 digs. Puckett matched Blank with a team-best five blocks.
 
With the loss, North Texas falls to 4-7 on the season. They were led by Coco Gillett, who had eight kills, 11 digs and three blocks.
 
NOTES

• With the win, UTA improved to 55-11 all-time against North Texas in a series that dates back to 1973.

• The 19 digs from Wells puts her just three shy of 1,800 in her illustrious career. It was also her sixth match (in 11) this year in which she's eclipsed at least 15 in a match.

• With her 10 kills, Ford now sits at 940 in her career, which is seven shy of surpassing April Lee (946, 1990-93) for 22nd place on the career list. She tallied her 31st career double-double, as well, including her team-best fifth of the season.

• Blank's double-double was the 24th of her career and her second of the 2023 campaign. She also surpassed 30 assists for the seventh time this season.

• UTA improved to 6-0 this year when holding an opponent between .100 and .199 in hitting percentage. They are also 9-0 when winning the first set.

• The Mavs are now 536-294-6 all-time against teams from the state of Texas.

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