ARLINGTON, Texas - UT Arlington improved to 6-2 overall and ran its home record to 4-1 following Tuesday night's see-saw, three-set battle with Abilene Christian volleyball that featured 28 tie scores and 11 lead changes.
The Mavs won by scores of 25-23, 26-24 and 25-21 to keep the Wildcats winless on the season at 0-7.
UTA's Qiana Canete and Stacey Koch each registered a team-high 12.0 points and combined for 21 kills as the Mavs outhit the Wildcats .248 to .167. Marisah Ingram also had a solid outing with six block assists, while Cailtyn Cooney recorded 14 of her team's 53 digs.
For the Wildcats, senior outside hitter Jennie Loerch led her side with 13 kills and 14.5 points followed by freshman
Kendall Bosse, who rang up 11.5 points on nine kills, two aces and a block assist.
Junior
Lexi Mercier, meanwhile, put up 9.5 point on eight kills (.444 attacking percentage) and three block assists.
ACU was in position to win each set as the aforementioned scores would indicate, but simply couldn't close out UTA.
The Mavs scored four of the last five points in game one after ACU took its final lead at 22-21 on a kill from Bosse. In game two the Wildcats battled back from a pair of four-point deficits late to tie the score at 24-24 only to watch UTA cash in on one of ACU's 10 service errors with a kill from Canete.
The Wildcats appeared determined to avoid the sweep with a nice charge in game three that put them ahead by three points at 15-12, but soon afterward the Mavs responded with an 8-3 run that gave them their first lead since 2-1.
ACU countered once more to tie the score at 20-20 with consecutive kills by Loerch. That boost led to a UTA timeout, which then gave way to kills by Canete and Cassidy Wheeler with a block by Koch and Ingram sandwiched in between.
The Wildcats received one last point from Loerch to make it 23-21 in favor of the Mavs, but then the home team pulled away for good thanks to kills from Koch and Wheeler.
The Wildcats return to the Metroplex for a third time this weekend for the Mean Green Invitational, where they'll face host North Texas in addition to Houston and Boise State.
