The regular season has concluded for all volleyball programs in the Western Athletic Conference. For the first time since a nine-match conference slate in the Southland Conference in 1992, UT Arlington has run the gamut undefeated.
Coming into the week, or rather, since my last blog post, UTA beat Tarleton for a 14-0 conference mark. With a Utah trip on the schedule, the Mavs were looking to make a mark in the history books.
Southern Utah has been on a slide of late and hosted on Thursday. The Thunderbirds took a set from UTA in Arlington and repeated that feat again, with UTA taking the other three sets. After a less-than-comfortable 25-21 set win, the Mavs and 'birds went toe-to-toe in set two, with neither team getting more than a three-point lead. At the end of the set, SUU staved off two set points for UTA and then claimed the set on their first try for a 26-24 win. They ended on a 4-0 run.
That appeared to upset UTA as the final two sets were won by 11 points each time and UTA moved one match away from perfection.