ARLINGTON, Texas – Tarleton State faces a heartbreaking loss to the Mavericks in a five-set battle. 
 
The Purple and White claimed the first set of the match 25-20. In the second and third sets, UTA battled back, taking one stanza 25-18 and the other 25-23. The Texans claimed the fourth frame, 25-22 but UT Arlington closed out the match with a 15-11 fifth set. Tarleton State is now 11-11 overall and 2-6 in WAC play after the loss to UTA. The Mavericks tallied 78 digs, 64 kills, 59 assists, 16 blocks, and two aces. UT Arlington is 15-6 overall and 4-4 in conference. 
 
In the battle against the Mavericks, the Texans compiled 66 digs, 53 kills, 49 assists, 11 blocks, and 10 aces. Rajini Fitzmaurice and Allison Bryant led the Texans with 14 kills and Madison Frank tallied eight. Matti Theurer saw a new season-high in aces with four on the match to lead the team. Kenzie Kellerman also saw a new season-high with two aces on the match and Melina Maldonado Ortiz claimed two aces for Tarleton State.
 
Emma Burke racked up nine blocks on the match for her new season-high while Grayson Schirpik contributed five, her new season-high, and Breanna McDonough tallied three. Megan Hodges compiled 24 assists to lead the Texans and Melina Maldonado Ortiz contributed 17. Theurer led the Purple and White with 24 digs. Maldonado Ortiz tallied 12 digs and Fitzmaurice had 11.
 
The first set began with four straight points for the Mavericks. Fitzmaurice laid down the first kill for the Texans to put the Purple and White on the board. With a 4-7 score in favor of UTA, Tarleton State saw a service error from UT Arlington and a kill from Frank to close the gap to a two-point deficit. Jalie Trent replied with a kill for the Mavericks to see the eighth point, but the Texans went on an impressive eight-point run with some great defensive work from Burke and Schirpik, kills from Fitzmaurice and Schirpik, two aces from Theurer and a couple of errors from the UTA. As the Mavericks climbed the board, the Purple and White remained in the lead with UT Arlington down by two at 14-16. Tarleton State took the next four points after an error from the home team, a block from Frank and Bryant, a service ace from Maldonado Ortiz and another kill from Fitzmaurice. As the scoreboard saw a 23-16 lead for the visitors, the Mavericks saw a three-score run after a kill from Kortney Puckett and two errors from the Texans. The Tarleton State defense took the final two points of the frame with back-to-back blocks from Schirpik, Burke and McDonough to claim the set for the Texans at 25-19.
 
Fitzmaurice entered the second set with the same fire as the first as she put Tarleton State on the board first with a kill. Sophie Ocampo and Brianna Ford laid down two consecutive kills to put the Mavericks up by one. Bryant tied the set at the second point but an error from UTA gave the Texans the lead. Mollie Blank and Puckett claimed the next two for the home team as McDonough put the fourth point on the board for Tarleton to tie the stanza. Three consecutive kills from UT Arlington saw a 4-7 score in favor of the Mavericks. With each team climbing the ranks, the Purple and White closed the gap to a one-point deficit at 8-9 after a kill from Fitzmaurice and a block from Burke and McDonough. The home team saw an eight-score run for a 17-8 score in favor of UTA. A service error from the Mavericks tallied point nine for the Texans but UT Arlington made up for the error with a kill from Ocampo and back-to-back blocks from Raige Reagor, Ford and Ocampo for the next three points. A pair of errors from the home team saw Tarleton State at 11 points. As a kill from Ford saw the 23^rd point for UTA, but the next five points went to the visitors with kills from Fitzmaurice, Maldonado Ortiz, Frank and Schirpik and an ace from Kenzie Kellerman. Another kill from Ford saw the scoreboard at 24-17 in favor of the home team. An error from the Mavericks added a final point for the Texans but a kill from Tritt locked in the second frame for UT Arlington at 25-18.
 
Reagor tallied the first point for UTA in set three with a kill. Fitzmaurice tied the set with a point for Tarleton State. A three-score run from the Mavericks saw the Purple and White down, 1-4. The next two points went to the Texans with an error from the home team and a kill from Bryant. UT Arlington claimed the next three points after an attack error from Tarleton and kills from Puckett and Ford. While both teams tallied point for point, a kill from Frank still saw the visitors down by three at 7-10. Four consecutive points from the Mavericks and the Purple and White were down by six. As the UT Arlington defense claimed point 22 for the home team with a block, the Texans saw six consecutive points to close the gap to a two-point deficit at 20-22. A kill from Tritt saw the next point for UTA and Fitzmaurice answered with a kill for Tarleton State. Ford laid down a kill for the 24th point but a service error and a block from Rylie Morrison and Frank saw the visiting team down by one at 23-24. Ford laid down a final kill to close out the frame for the Mavericks at 23-25.  
 
The fourth fstanza began with five straight points from Tarleton State consisting of two errors from the home team and three kills from Bryant. Ocampo tallied the first point for the Mavericks with a kill. An error from each team tacked on a point for each side, showing 6-2 on the board in favor of the Texans. The next three points went to the Purple and White after an error from UTA, a kill from Bryant and an ace from Maldonado Ortiz. UT Arlington closed the gap to a four-point deficit after three errors from Tarleton State. An error from the home team saw UTA down, 10-5. The Mavericks fought back with three more points to close the gap. As the teams rallied back and forth, a kill from Morrison saw a 16-11 score for Tarleton State. UT Arlington claimed the next five points to tie the set at 16. Kills from Bryant and Frank took the next two points for the visiting team where they led for the remainder of the stanza. After four straight points from the Texans, each team contributed an error to the other for a point. UTA took the next three points to tally the 22nd point but a kill from Fitzmaurice closed out the frame, 25-22, forcing a fifth set. 
 
Morrison kicked off the fifth and final set with a point for the visiting team. The Mavericks took the next two points with a kill from Ocampo and an error from Tarleton. Morrison tied the set at two with a kill. The next four points were claimed by the home team to take a 6-2 lead over the Texans. As the teams battled back-and-forth, a kill Evyn Snook laid down a kill for UTA's 11^th point. Bryant and Morrison each contributed a kill to see an 8-11 score but a three-run score from the Mavericks saw the home team up by six. The final two points for Tarleton State came from kills by Bryant and Schirpik but Reagor closed out the match with a kill for a 15-10 final in favor of UT Arlington. 
 
Texan Volleyball will return home for a match against UTRGV at 1 p.m. on Oct. 21. The Purple and White will then host Abilene Christian on Oct. 23 at 6 p.m.  Both matches can be found on ESPN+.