OREM, Utah – The Utah Valley University volleyball team opened the Wolverine Invitational with a dramatic come-from-behind five-set victory over North Texas on Friday night at the UCCU Center. After falling behind two sets to one, UVU managed to win the final two games to take the match 14-25, 25-20, 25-27, 25-23, 15-12.
 
"I was really proud of the girls for being able to gut it out tonight," head coach Sam Atoa said. "I felt like we played OK in the first set and I was very pleased that we were able to fight and win that second one and brawl and battle the rest of the way."
 
Kiahna Vernon paced the Wolverine (1-4) offense with 16 kills while Madison Dennison finished right behind her with a career-high 15. Alexis Davies rounded out UVU's double figures in kills with 11, while Sierra Starley helped set up the offense by handing out a team-high 49 assists and Nakisha Willden led the back row with 16 digs.
 
"This is the team that we knew that we had, it's just taken us a little while to get things going," Atoa added. "It was a real team effort and I was very pleased with how Sierra (Starley) and Madison (Dennison) played, as well as our outsides (Kiahna Vernon and Alexis Davies) and Nakisha Willden."
 
Down two sets to one and trailing UNT (2-4) by a point (9-8) in the fourth frame, the Wolverines managed to reel off a 4-0 spurt to take a 12-9 advantage. With UVU still holding to a three-point lead at 14-11, North Texas countered back with a 5-1 run of its own to take a 16-15 advantage. The Wolverines then wasted little time erasing the deficit, as they quickly regained the lead at 18-16 following three straight points. The Mean Green, of Conference USA, responded by tying the score at 20-all on back-to-back kills from Chelsea Abii. With the score still tied at 23-23, UVU came thru with consecutive kills from Dennison and Vernon to take the fourth set by a score of 25-23 and force a decisive fifth set.
 
The Wolverines remained hot in the fifth set, as they erupted out to a 7-0 lead after a trio of kills from Davies, another each from Dennison and Starley, an ace from Madi Wardle and a UNT attack error. North Texas chipped away at the deficit from there and managed to pull to within two late at 13-11, but UVU responded by scoring two of the next three points to hold on and take the final set by a score of 15-12. Dennison led UVU in the set with four kills, including her 15th of the night on match point.  
 
In the opening set, UNT was the first to get things going as it jumped out to a quick 13-6 advantage. The Wolverines countered back with a trio of consecutive points to make it a 13-9 score, but the Mean Green responded with a 7-2 run of their own to take a 20-11 lead. North Texas then put the set away, 25-14, a few points later to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
After back and forth action in the early stages of the second set, Utah Valley managed to reel off seven unanswered points to take a 21-12 lead. Starley led the run with a pair aces, while Izzie Hinton and Vernon each chipped in two kills of their own during the spurt. North Texas then answered back with four straight points to pull within five at 21-16, but it wasn't enough as UVU held on to take the set by a score of 25-20. Vernon paced UVU with six kills in the frame, and overall the Wolverine offense recorded their best output of the season by outhitting the Mean Green .424 to .220.
 
Trailing 7-5 in the third game, the Wolverines managed to piece together a 5-0 run to take a 10-7 lead. Vernon, Alexis Davies and Brighton Taylor led the way with a kill apiece during the rally. With UVU later holding to a 20-17 lead, the Mean Green used a 4-1 run to tie the score at 21-all. The score then seesawed back-and-forth from there until UNT managed to put the set away, at 27-25, following an Amanda Chamberlain kill and a UVU attack error.
 
As a team, UVU outblocked UNT 15.5 to 9.0 in the contest. Davies paced the Wolverines at the net with six blocks while Dennison, Hinton and Taylor each added four apiece.
 
Earlier in the day, Southern Utah opened the Wolverine Invitational with a 3-2 victory over San José State.
 
The Wolverine Invitational will continue on Saturday with four more matches. Following a neutral contest between North Texas and San José State at 10 a.m., the Wolverines will then take on in-state foe Southern Utah at noon. The Thunderbirds and Mean Green will then face-off against one another at 4:30 p.m. before UVU and SJSU close the tournament at 7 p.m.