SAN MARCOS, Tex. -- Appalachian State volleyball fell to UT Arlington 3-1 (25-23, 22-25, 25-21, 25-17) in the First Round of the Sun Belt Tournament on Thursday evening.
The sixth seeded Mountaineers see their season come to a close with a 13-17 mark, while the seventh seeded Mavericks improve to 17-12 and advance to play third seed South Alabama tomorrow.
Emma Longley finished with a match-high 17 kills on a .256 hitting percentage, to go along with seven digs. She concludes her career with 1,340 kills, which ranks seventh in program history.
Kara Spicer added 13 kills on a .360 hitting percentage and
Victoria Wilform added 12 kills.
Emma Reilly tallied a team-high 14 digs, while
Sydney Farthing added 11 digs. Reilly concludes the season with 550 digs, which ranks as the sixth most in single-season history.
In the opening set, UT Arlington jumped out to a 17-11 lead, only to see the Mountaineers storm back with seven straight points to take an 18-17 lead. App State opened a 20-18 lead, but the Mavericks answered with three straight points to take a 21-20 lead. The Black and Gold tied the set at 21-21, but the Mavericks won the next two points to take a 23-21 edge. App State pulled within a point at 24-23, but a ball handling error gave the Mavericks the opening set 25-23.
In Set 2, App State used an early 5-0 run to take a 9-5 advantage. The Mavericks tied the score at 13-13, but the Black and Gold responded with three straight points to take a 16-13 lead. The Mountaineers held a 21-19 lead, before the Mavericks scored two straight points to tie the score at 21-21. App State scored four of the last five points to win the set 25-22 and knot the match at a set apiece.
A 5-1 run by UT Arlington in Set 3 gave them a 14-9 lead. Following a Spicer kill, the Mavericks scored two more points to build a 16-10 edge. UTA pushed its lead to 24-17, but four straight Mountaineer points trimmed the Mavericks lead to 24-21. The Mavericks won the next point to take the set 25-21 and a 2-1 lead.
In the fourth set, UT Arlington jumped out to a 10-2 lead. App State chipped away at its deficit and cut it to 14-9. The Mavericks responded with three of the next four points, but App State came right back with four consecutive points to cut the UTA lead to 17-14. From there, the Mavericks closed out the set and match on an 8-3 spurt to win the four-set contest.
The Mountaineers registered 53 kills and hit .231, while the Mavericks hit .319 and had 61 kills.
