TYLER, Texas – UT Tyler went back and forth in an entertaining five-set Lone Star Conference divisional matchup with Midwestern State, but the Patriots dropped the five-set matchup (18-25, 25-18, 25-23, 23-25, 15-12) to open up a conference weekend at home Friday night.
 
Kyana Alvarez matched her career-high in kills, registering 21 kills for the second straight match to lead the Patriots' offense, which included 13-kill efforts from Kylee Becker and Maiya Peña.  Savannah Guzman led five players in double figures in digs with a career-high 29, and Taylor Stoops collected 54 assists as UT Tyler's primary setter.
 
With the five-set defeat, UT Tyler falls to 8-9 overall and 3-6 in Lone Star Conference play.  The Patriots are now 1-4 in divisional play.  Midwestern State improves to 5-13 overall, 3-6 in the LSC, and 2-3 in the division.
 
How It Happened: UT Tyler seized an early 15-5 lead and cruised to a 25-18 win in the opening set, but Midwestern State evened the match by pulling away late in the second set for a 25-18 win.  Each of the remaining three sets were up for grabs with tie scores late in each set.
 
In the third set, the lead changed hands eight times as the teams battled to a 22-22 tie. Midwestern State scored three of the final four points to take the lead in the match, two sets to one, after Lauren Honeycutt recorded a kill to break the 22-22 tie and had a hand in the set-clinching block for the 25-23 victory.
 
The fourth set was even tighter, as the score was tied 16 times with seven lead changes up to a 23-23 tie. UT Tyler stayed alive in the match with back-to-back kills from Maiya Peña and Kylee Becker, forcing a fifth set with the 25-23 Patriot win in the fourth set.
 
The fifth set continued the tightly-contested trend of the previous two sets, with eight scores and five lead changes.  Kyana Alvarez and Peña posted consecutive kills to erase an 11-9 deficit and tie the final set at 11-11, but Honeycutt scored two of the next three points for the Mustangs, starting the 3-0 run with a kill and finishing it with a solo block that pushed Midwestern State to match point with a 14-11 lead.  Alvarez kept the Patriots alive with her 21^st kill of the evening, but Honeycutt finished off the match with the last of her 11 kills to lift MSU to the 15-12 win.
 
By The Numbers: UT Tyler recorded the highest attack percentage by either team in a set by starting the match with a .289 effort (16 kills, 5 errors, 38 attempts) in its first-set win… Midwestern State produced attack percentages of .209, .208, and .240 in the sets it won and were held to .121 and .100 in the sets won by the Patriots… The match itself contained 40 tie scores and 21 total lead changes… Midwestern State's balanced offense was spread evenly, with five different hitters recording at least 25 attack attempts with three players finishing with exactly 37 attempts… The Mustangs recorded 7 aces to UT Tyler's 4 and also produced a 16-6 advantage in team blocks.
 
UT Tyler Stat Leaders: For the second consecutive match, Kyana Alvarez led UT Tyler hitters with 21 kills, tying the career-high she set in last week's five-set road win over Cameron.  Alvarez also had 13 digs and a pair of service aces, joining four others with double-digit digs as the Patriots recorded 99 digs in the match.  Savannah Guzman was the match digs leader, setting a new personal career-high with 29 digs, while Brianna Bellehumeur registered a season-high 16 digs.  Taylor Stoops had 14 digs, 54 assists, and 4 kills, and Makenna Bartlett recorded 14 digs. Christina Escamilla finished with nine kills, recording her first seven kills without an error on just 11 attempts in the first two sets.
 
Midwestern State Stat Leaders: Sarah Eakin registered a team-high 13 kills, along with 9 digs and 6 blocks.  She and Lauren Honeycutt notched three solo blocks each, and Honeycutt led the team with seven total blocks to go with 11 kills as the Mustangs posted 16 total blocks as a team and had two players with 20-plus digs.  Audry Lopez finished with a team-high 26 digs while Rockelle Gholson added 21 digs to go with 11 kills.
 
What's Next: UT Tyler is back home for another divisional matchup Saturday afternoon, hosting Texas Woman's University at 1:00 p.m.