ARLINGTON, TEXAS --- The UT Arlington volleyball team (11-2) prevailed in a marathon opening set before producing a 30-28, 25-17, 25-16 win over Texas A&M Commerce in the UTA Invitational finale inside the Arlington ISD Athletics Center on Saturday.
With the victory, the Mavs will take a five-match winning streak into their Western Athletic Conference (WAC) opener on Thursday against UTRGV inside the College Park Center.
Brianna Ford, who was named the UTA Invitational MVP, had another huge performance with a match-best 18 kills, nine digs, two blocks, two aces and an assist. She also hit .485 while producing 10 of those terminations in the integral opening set.
Briana Brown also had a tremendous performance, tallying 15 kills at a .393 clip while adding six digs and two blocks.
Jalie Tritt added double-digit kills with 11 while chipping in eight digs.
One day after finishing with a season-best 52 assists,
Mollie Blank totaled 22 in the opening set against Commerce. The senior setter ended the night with 42 distributions to go along with eight digs, two kills, one block and an ace.
Defensively,
Alli Wells added a match-high 17 digs along with five assists.
Brown and Wells joined Ford on the all-tournament team. As a whole, the Mavs hit .291 while
Kortney Puckett's two aces matched Ford for the team high.
In the opening set, the Mavs jumped out to a 6-1 lead which including three kills from Ford. The visitors responded with six of the next eight points. From there, neither team led by more than two until the Mavs opened up a 20-17 lead following a 4-0 rally.
A service error, however, opened the door for a match-tying 3-0 run for Commerce, who took a 24-23 lead moments later. Terminations from Tritt, Ford and again by Tritt then helped fight off three straight set points.
Commerce had another chance to win it after that (27-26), but Brown slammed home back-to-back kills for UTA's first set point. Although Commerce erased that chance, the duo of Brown and Ford posted back-to-back kills on the ensuing two points to end the set.
Another key storyline on Saturday was the return of
Paige Reagor, who missed the past nine matches. The 6-6 middle blocker came off the bench and saw her first action at the start of the second set before finishing with three kills and two blocks.
UTA Invitational All-Tournament Team
Brianna Ford - UT Arlington (MVP)
Briana Brown - UT Arlington
Alli Wells - UT Arlington
Sh'Diamond Holly - North Texas
Truli Levy - North Texas
Millie Allgood - Texas A&M Commerce
Kayla Wilson - McNeese
NOTES
- The Mavs improved to 18-0 all-time against Texas A&M Commerce, who was UTA's first-ever opponent in 1973 when they were called East Texas State.
- With her 17 digs, Wells pushed her career total to 1,829, which surpasses Caitlyn Cooney (1,820, 2012-15) for fourth place on the program's all-time list.
- Ford, meanwhile, is on the verge of 1,000 career kills, just 19 shy of the milestone.
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