ARLINGTON, Texas – Utah Valley University fell to UT Arlington, 3-0 (23-25, 18-25, 13-25) on Saturday morning inside the College Park Center. Avery Shewell led UVU (17-9, 8-6) with a match-high 12 kills, but it was UTA's (22-2, 13-0) combination of Sjakkie Donkers and Paige Reagor who combined for 17 kills and nine blocks was too much for the Wolverines.
 
Utah Valley led 8-7 in the first set after a kill from Sami Blackett, a block assist by Maranda Woolf and Steliyana Chakarova, and a service ace by Evalyn Chism. UT Arlington quickly responded with a 4-0 run to take an 11-8 lead.  After exchanging points for a few serves, Natalie Palmer entered the match, had consecutive service aces to put her at 96 for her UVU career, and gave the Wolverines a narrow 14-13 lead. A 6-1 Maverick run broke a 15-15 tie and swung the set to the home team, who held on for a 25-23 victory.
 
The Mavericks built an 11-8 lead again in the second set before UVU narrowed the lead to 11-10 following a block assist by Bella Wooden and Chakarova. The Wolverines stayed within one multiple times during the second set before UTA pulled away to take an 18-13 lead with a 4-0 run that featured a pair of aces from Brianna Ford. Sami Blackett ended the run with one of her three kills in the set, she finished the match with eight. As the set grew towards its close, Utah Valley continued to chip away at the deficit, but UT Arlington answered every time to prevent a comeback.
 
The momentum on the backs of the Mavericks quickly got off to a good start in the third set and took a 5-0 lead before Woolf recorded UVU's first kill of the set. The redshirt sophomore middle blocker finished with two kills and two blocks. The Mavericks stayed hot in the third and hit .500 as a team with no attack errors. Shewell tried to spark the UVU offensive attack with five kills in the set and passed Lexi Thompson for ninth all-time in career kills during the stretch.
 
In the loss, Blackett moved into ninth all-time in single-season points, passing Camie Manwill (2007) and Kazna Tanuvasa (2021), who reached 444. Wooden moved into fourth all-time in single-season block assists and total blocks, passing Lauren Bakker with 143 set in 2013.
 
The win clinched at least a share of the WAC Title for UT Arlington, and they will be the top seed in the WAC Volleyball Tournament in the College Park Center later this month.
 
Utah Valley will close out the regular season next week, starting with Senior Night against Tarleton State on Thursday, Nov. 14, at 6:00 p.m. MT inside Lockhart Arena. They will welcome Southern Utah on Saturday, Nov. 16, at Noon for the final home match of the season before returning to Arlington for the WAC Tournament (Nov. 21-23).