LAREDO, TEXAS – UT Tyler finished their weekend road trip with a pair of wins after a 3-1 (19-25, 25-11, 27-25, 25-13) victory over Texas A&M International on Saturday afternoon.

The Patriots recovered after dropping the opening set to win three straight and improve their Lone Star Conference record to 9-1 on the year. The UT Tyler defense was great all afternoon, limiting Texas A&M International to negative team hitting percentages in two out of the four sets in the match.

Junior Saige Rivera eclipsed the 1,000 assist mark for her career with 47 in the match and reached double-double figures with 10 digs. Junior Autumn Perry led the way with 16 kills, Kota Hartman added 15, Jackie Velzie totaled 12 and Dakota Rogers-Hurtado added 10 to make it four Patriots in double-digit kill figures.

The Patriot defense out-dug Texas A&M International by a 65-to-47 margin and totaled eight blocks. Libero Addison Evans led the way with 14 digs while fellow defensive specialists Emma Vazquez and Makayla Villarreal notched 13 and 11 digs respectively.

UT Tyler was unable to recover from a 10-3 deficit in the opening frame, dropping a 25-19 decision before rattling off three straight wins from that point forward. The Patriots flipped the momentum of the match with 12 unanswered points coming out of the 11-9 mark of the second set.

That run set UT Tyler up with a 25-11 second frame win to even the match at 1-1. The Patriots conceded another fast start to the Dustdevils in the third frame, falling behind 7-3 and then again at 12-6.

A 5-1 run cut the deficit to 13-11, but the Patriots wouldn't take their first lead of the set until the 24-23 mark, closing out a 27-25 win in extra points.

UT Tyler closed out the match with a fourth set victory that featured a second run of 10 unanswered points, this time coming out of the 12-8 mark. That 22-8 lead ultimately resulted in a 25-13 frame win and a 3-1 match victory.

UT Tyler hit .240 in the match while limiting the Hilltoppers to just a .108 hitting percentage. The Patriots put down 59 kills in 167 swings.

Rogers-Hurtado totaled five blocks to add to her 10 kills.

UT Tyler will return home next weekend for matches against UT Permian Basin and Western New Mexico.