ARLINGTON, Texas — UT Arlington defeated Kent St. 3-2 (25-16, 25-17, 23-25, 20-25, 15-3) on Friday. UTA closed the match by hitting .529 with nine kills and no attack errors in the fifth set.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After Kent St. scored the first point,
Hana Aiana put the Mavericks on the board with consecutive early kills, and
Sophia Krichev added a kill and a block as UTA moved ahead 5-2. Kent St. closed to 5-4, but UTA scored nine of the next 10 points, with Krichev recording four kills and
Camryn McMinn adding two during a stretch that made it 14-5. Kent St. later put together three straight points to make it 20-14, but Krichev answered with a kill and teamed with
Evyn Snook on a block before adding another kill for a 23-14 lead. A Kent St. service error brought UT Arlington to set point, and Krichev closed the first set with a kill from
Lucy Tricco for a 25-16 win.
After Kent St. built a 9-6 lead in the second set, UTA drew even at 9-9 on a Tricco kill and back-to-back Kent St. attack errors. Kent St. briefly went back in front 10-9, but a service error tied the set and the Mavs scored the next five points with Tricco serving, getting two kills from
Hana Aiana, two from
Camryn McMinn and a block by Aiana and
Karisa Martin to move ahead 15-10. Kent St. cut the margin to 16-14 and later 17-15, but UT Arlington answered with seven straight points, beginning with a
Sophia Krichev kill and continuing with a
Lily Hopkins ace and kills by Tricco,
Evyn Snook and Krichev for a 24-15 advantage. Kent St. took the next two points before a service error closed UT Arlington's 25-17 set win.
Kent St. built a 7-2 lead early in the third set with two kills from Mercedez Brown and three UTA attack errors before
Sophia Krichev's kill made it 7-3. Hopkins then served three UT Arlington points, including a Krichev block and a
Camryn McMinn kill, and after Kent St. moved to 8-6,
Evyn Snook's ace and two blocks involving Tricco and Krichev helped UTA take an 11-8 lead. Kent St. answered by tying the set at 13-13 on Vanessa Imoh's kill, then scored five straight from 15-15 to 20-15 with the last four coming on Hailey Brenner's serve. UTA came back to tie it 22-22 on Snook's ace, but Kent St. reached set point at 24-22 and, after Tricco's kill, won the set 25-23 on Liliana Mechura's kill.
Kent St. answered
Hana Aiana's opening kill by scoring six of the next seven points, including a Hailey Brenner ace, to move in front 6-2 before UTA got kills from Aiana,
Evyn Snook,
Camryn McMinn and
Sophia Krichev during the early stretch. The visitors pushed the margin to 14-7 on consecutive Vanessa Imoh kills, but UTA came back with two McMinn kills and a block by Martin and Aiana to get within 15-10. After Kent St. later led 18-11, the Mavericks kept closing with a Martin kill, a Martin-
Sophia Krichev block, a McMinn kill and consecutive Krichev kills, eventually pulling within 22-20 on an Aiana kill and an Aiana-McMinn block. Kent St. stopped the push with an Adalynn Ginley kill, a Brenner ace and a Mercedez Brown kill to finish the set 25-20.
After kills by
Evyn Snook and
Sophia Krichev put the Mavericks ahead early, UTA built a 6-1 lead behind a Tricco kill and consecutive block points involving
Hana Aiana and
Camryn McMinn. Kent St. got a sideout on a service error, but UTA answered with kills from Snook and McMinn and reached 9-2 before Liliana Mechura's kill made it 9-3. McMinn's kill started a six-point closing run, and her service turn included an ace, three Snook kills and a Martin-
Hana Aiana block as UTA finished the fifth set 15-3.
Game Notes
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Sophia Krichev recorded 19 kills with no errors on 31 attempts, added eight total blocks, including 3 solo blocks and totaling 24.5 points.
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Samantha Glenn totaled 34 digs, three assists and one service ace.
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Camryn McMinn recorded 13 kills, 19 digs, four total blocks, totaling 16.0 points
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Hana Aiana recorded 11 kills with three errors on 21 attempts. She also had seven total blocks, totaling 14.5 points.
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Lucy Tricco accumulated 29 assists, five digs and five kills with no errors on 11 attempts.
UP NEXT
UTA will face off against Army on Saturday, Sept. 5 at 11 a.m. at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas.
--#BuckEm--
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