SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS. – The UT Tyler volleyball team saw its nine-match winning streak come to an end on Saturday afternoon as the Patriots dropped a back and forth four-set match (19-25, 23-25, 25-20, 21-25) to St. Mary's in their final match of the Lone Star Conference Challenge.
The Patriots battled throughout the afternoon, overcoming a two-set deficit with a strong third-set victory before falling in the fourth. The match featured 28 ties and eight lead changes.
After dropping the opening set, UT Tyler found its rhythm using an 8-2 run to turn a 6-4 deficit into a 12-8 lead. The Patriots later pushed the lead to 21-20 following kills from
Autumn Perry and
Melanie Merrill. However, St. Mary's would go on to score five of the final seven points to take the first set.
The Patriots were able to bounce back in a big way in set number three though. Trailing 8-6, UT Tyler scored four of the next five points to reclaim the lead using a 6-1 surge to eventually build a 19-15 advantage. Perry delivered key kills during the run, while
Sydney Atkinson and
Maya Jones played key roles at the net. A service ace from
Mia Cross and back-to-back points created by the Patriot block pushed the lead to 24-20 before UT Tyler closed out the set 25-20.
UT Tyler carried that momentum into the fourth set, opening with an 11-8 advantage; later extending the the lead to 19-16 following kills from Perry, Merrill and Jones. The Patriots held a 21-19 lead late in the set, but the Rattlers would go on a 6-0 run to secure the victory and hand UT Tyler their first loss of the season.
Perry led the Patriot offense with a match-high 18 kills adding four digs to her day. Merrill and
Maya Jones finished the match with eight kills each while
Kailey Manes added six kills of her own. Defensively,
Kaitlyn Davis anchored the back row with a team-high 16 digs while
Anna Arceneaux collected 14 digs.
The Patriots finished the match with 49 kills, seven service aces, 6 blocks, 48 assists and 53 digs.
UT Tyler will continue their extended stretch away from home as they open Lone Star Conference play against Cameron Friday at 6 p.m.
