DALLAS, TEXAS – UT Tyler volleyball opened play in the Dallas Classic on Friday morning with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 25-14) loss at the hands of East Central.

The Patriots fell behind by significant margins in both the first and third sets and couldn't overcome a crucial East Central rally in the middle frame to fall in three sets. Senior Addison Evans notched 24 digs on Friday morning, becoming the 10^th Patriot in the history of the UT Tyler volleyball program to eclipse the 1,000 dig mark for her career.

Senior Dakota Rogers-Hurtado led the team with nine kills for an offense that totaled 30 kills for the match. UT Tyler had their highest kill total in a set in the opening frame with 12 and didn't reach double-digit kill totals in either the second or third frame.

The Patriots hit .088 for a team, committing 19 attacking errors in the match.

East Central led 19-9 in the opening set and 12-1 in the third set on their way to convincing 25-17 and 25-14 victories. The Tigers strung together four key points to jump ahead 20-17 in the second set and held off a late UT Tyler rally of three points to win 25-22.

Autumn Perry, Makai Lewis and Kota Hartman all registered five kills in their UT Tyler debut.

Rogers-Hurtado put down her nine kills in the match on just 19 swings, posting a .421 hitting percentage.

UT Tyler falls to 0-1 on the year and East Central to 1-0 on the year.

UT Tyler will play their second match of the day on Friday evening at 7 p.m. against (RV) DBU.