BOONE, N.C. -- Appalachian State volleyball dropped a 25-14, 27-25, 25-22 contest to UT Arlington on Friday evening in the Holmes Center.
Kara Spicer paced the Mountaineers (9-13, 5-4 SBC) with a team-high 13 kills and .308 hitting percentage.
Emma Longley added 11 kills and seven digs and
Victoria Wilform finished with eight kills.
Sam Bickley posted a near double-double with 36 assists and nine digs.
Emma Reilly had a team-high 10 digs and posted the 1,298th career dig to move into sixth place in program history in career digs.
Grace Kinsch chipped in with seven digs.
In the first set, the Mavericks (12-10, 4-6 SBC) used a 5-1 run to open a 13-7 lead. UT Arlington pulled away and won the final three points to post a 25-14 victory in the opening frame.
The second set saw the Black and Gold break a 7-7 tie with three straight points, getting kills from
Anna Kincaid and
Grace Morrison in the process. UTA battled back to tie the score at 12-12. The set featured four more ties, before the Mavericks broke a 22-22 deadlock with two straight points to take a 24-22 edge. App State got back-to-back kills from Spicer to knot the score at 24-24, before a UTA kill put them in front 25-24. Longley tied the set at 25-25 with a kill, but the Mavericks used a service error and service ace to take the set 27-25.
In Set 3, App State used a 4-0 run to jump out to an early 9-3 advantage. The Mavericks chipped away at the Black and Gold lead and tied the score at 13-13 on a kill from Brooke Townsend. With the Mountaineers leading 20-17, the Mavericks scored four consecutive points to take a 21-20 lead. The Mountaineers answered with a Morrison kill, but UTA scored two straight points to open a 23-21Â advantage. Spicer pulled the Black and Gold within a point on a kill, but UTA used a pair of attack errors to win the set 25-22 and finish off the sweep.
The Mountaineers tallied 43 kills and hit .186 in the contest, while the Mavericks posted 45 kills and hit .365.
App State will conclude its three-match home stand on Sunday against West Division leader Texas State. The match is slated to start at 12:30 p.m. on ESPN+.
