DALLAS, TEXAS – The UT Tyler volleyball team came out on the wrong side of a 3-2 (21-25, 25-20, 25-23, 24-26, 11-15) battle against DBU on Wednesday night inside the Burg Center.
 
UT Tyler led 2-1 through three sets of action, but couldn't close out the Patriots in a back-and-forth fourth set, and then fell behind by too large of a margin to recover in the deciding fifth set to drop the match by a 3-2 final. Senior Mikayla Ware and junior Evelyn Torres led the offensive output for UT Tyler with 16 kills, posting hitting percentages of .268 and .379, respectively.
 
DBU played extremely well on their home court in a battle of two LSC teams with just a single loss entering the night's action, and held the advantage in the majority of statistical categories at the end of the night. UT Tyler relied on a strong serve and timely attacks from Ware and Torres throughout the match, while posting a .197 hitting percentage with 55 kills in 147 attacks for the night.
 
DBU pulled away late in a closely contested first set, closing out the 25-21 win with a 6-2 run. The scoring margin never drew greater than two points up until the 21-19 mark of that frame, setting the stage for what would be a tightly contested match all the way through.
 
UT Tyler responded to the opening set loss with wins in the second and third sets, opening up a 17-10 lead in the second set, and then using 17 kills as a team in the third set to come out on top by a 25-23 margin.
 
The story of the match proved to be the fourth set, as DBU forced a deciding fifth set in extra points with a 26-24 win in a frame that featured 17 ties and eight lead changes throughout. UT Tyler opened a 15-11 lead before four straight DBU points enacted what would be the definition of a back-and-forth finish to the frame.
 
The two sides traded the lead four times in the final stages of the set, before DBU finally put two points together with a kill and a block to take the fourth set victory. That momentum translated into the fifth and final set as DBU led 12-7 and never looked back for the 3-2 victory.
 
DBU held the kill advantage with 66 on the night, and posted a team hitting percentage of .317 for the match. UT Tyler notched 12 service aces in the match, but struggled to slow down the LSC's top offensive side in terms of hitting percentage entering Wednesday evening's match.
 
Sophomore Adeline Ortman had 29 assists and nine digs, and was joined by freshman Saige Rivera, who had 16 assists, as leaders for the Patriot offense. Libero Savannah Guzman led the way with 15 digs.
 
UT Tyler drops to 10-6 on the year and 3-2 in LSC play and will continue their road trip on Oct. 1^st against Western New Mexico.