STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton Volleyball gets the Saturday sweep of UT Arlington in three sets (25-22, 25-22, 25-18) for the first win inside Wisdom Volleyball Gym this season.
 
The Texans were led in their victory this afternoon by kill leaders Amber Strange and Hali'a Swartman-Hogan who both had 12 kills followed by Lauren Kersey with 11 on a .409 hitting percentage and Lorin McNeil who totaled 6 blocks on the match.
 
Tarleton opened the match with a game leading kill by Kersey before the Mavericks were able to get to an early 10-7 lead. Both teams went back-and-forth for the majority of the set until the Texans were able to take over momentum with blocks by McNeil and Strange and a service ace from Isabel Gonzaba.
 
In set two the Texans started out strong with the first point of the set on a kill by McNeil, followed by 6-1 run by the Texans. Tarleton secured the lead the entire second set maintaining their home court advantage with key kills from Swartman-Hogan, Camen Kinsey, and Strange.
 
Trying to secure the sweep, the Texans proved that they could not be dominated on their home court again jumping out to a 0-3 lead to start the third set. The entire team hit for .533 this set with Swartman-Hogan and Kersey dominating in kills this set. With a 21-13 lead, the Mavericks were only able to score five more before a last-minute timeout called by UTA where the Texans came back and sealed the sweep with a kill by Kersey.
 
Kayla Brannon paced the offense with 22 assists followed by Melina Maldonado with 19. Ana Costas posted a match leading 20 digs while Isabel Gonzaba came in behind her with13. Natalya Chatham led both teams in hitting percentage with .667 while also recording six kills.
 
Tarleton will take on the Redhawks of Seattle University Monday, Feb. 8 at 8 p.m. CT and Tuesday Feb. 9 at 4 p.m. CT in Seattle, Washington.