ARLINGTON – The UT Arlington Mavericks took a tight 30-28 first set over the Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team on Saturday night, which tipped the match in the Mavs' favor, who won it in three via set scores of 25-17 and 25-16 in the other two sets.
"We started the match with a purpose and fight," said coach
Joe Morales. "Set one was tough because of all the variables that were part of that extended set. The players battled, but we are young."
"The message tonight was think and have fun, which they did a pretty good job at that."
Yasmin Figueiredo (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) delivered back-to-back kills in the early portion of the first set as the Lions fought back from being down 6-1 to trail 8-7.
UTA was not able to build a lead bigger than two in the middle of the set, but also did not trail to the Lions. A&M-Commerce started the match hitting .292 with
Reese Fetty (Farmersville) totaling three kills through the first 14 points.
Two consecutive blocks by the Lions, first from
Deja Benjamin (Pearland – Shadows Creek) and
Kitana Tuufuli (St. Hedwig – Steele) and then another by Benjamin and
Essence Allen (Longview – Tatum) gave A&M-Commerce a 17-16 lead, the first of the match.
UTA took a 20-17 lead on a 4-0 run, but A&M-Commerce served back a 3-0 run to tie the set right back. The Lions stormed back to lead 24-23 and had the first four opportunities to close out the set, but the Mavs fought it off each time.
The Lions fought off the Mavs first set opportunity, but UTA closed out the first set, 30-28. A&M-Commerce had seven blocks in the first set, while UT Arlington had none.
The second set began with the Mavs leading 8-4, the lowest deficit for A&M-Commerce early in in the set was one point. The Mavs had a lead as big as 11 points in the second set and took the second set, 25-17. The Lions did fight back in the set winning six points in a stretch of seven.
UTA took the first two points of the third set, which helped it lead for most of the third set. The Lions tied the set at two, but trailed by as much as nine in the set and fell 25-25-16.
Morales added, "I did throw something new at them because I wanted to see how they responded with adaptation. We did, but struggled in the third set with that that change. Even with this loss, I was pleased with their discipline and fight. Little by little, day by day; we are getting better."
The Lions lost all three matches this week and fall to 4-10 on the season. A&M-Commerce went 4-9 in the non-conference portion of the schedule. The Mavs head into their conference schedule with a record of 11-2.
Fetty and Tuufuli had nine kills each on Saturday night, with Fetty hitting .269.
Breann Connally (Coolidge – Groesbeck) totaled 20 assists, while Benjamin had six blocks and Figueiredo had five. Connally and
Millie Allgood (Sherwood, Ark.) had nine digs each.
UP NEXT
The Lions begin the full Southland Conference schedule next Saturday at Lamar.
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