By Spencer Rodak, Stadium Sportzz
Facing the Mavericks on the road, the T-birds dropped their first conference match of the season on Thursday night.
UT Arlington jumped out to an early 9-5 advantage in set one before a 6-0 run put them ahead 15-5. Southern Utah was unable to get out of the early hole, as the Mavericks rolled to a 25-13 victory and 1-0 lead in the match.
UTA’s momentum continued into set two as they scored the first eight points. SUU battled back to get within six (15-9), but that was as close as they would come. Using a 6-0 run in the latter part of the set, the Mavericks closed out the set to win 25-14 and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
Set three was back and forth, with the T-birds taking a 15-12 lead into the first media break. Southern Utah attempted to pull away from there, taking a 22-17 advantage. The Mavericks notched the following two points to cut the SUU lead to three (22-19), but the road team ended the set on a 3-0 spurt to win 25-19 and cut the match deficit to 2-1.
UT Arlington started the fourth set on a 3-0 run, riding the momentum to a 15-5 lead. SUU battled back to get within seven (18-11), but the Mavericks tallied seven of the final nine points to take the set 25-14 and record a 3-1 match victory.
Teniyah Leuluai led the offensive attack with 28 assists, while Finley Charapata added 10 kills on the defensive side.
Up next
Southern Utah (6-8, 2-1 WAC) returns to Cedar City to host rival Utah Tech on Saturday, October 5.
The rivalry matchup is slated to begin at 1 p.m. MT and can be seen on ESPN+.