ARLINGTON, Texas – Santa Clara volleyball's late rally fell just short as the Broncos came up on the wrong end of a five-set thriller against undefeated UT Arlington that saw 27 lead changes and 10 ties. Santa Clara erased a four-point deficit in the fifth set, but was unable to hold off the Mavericks down the stretch as they dropped their opening game of the UT Arlington Classic.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Santa Clara was dealt an early blow, but was up to the challenge in the opening set. Trailing 21-16, the Broncos rallied to erase the deficit and tied it at 24-all after Alayna Crabtree notched a kill to stave off the match point situation. Elena Radeff followed suit with a kill of her own to give SCU the lead outright and the Mavericks committed an error to complete the 26-24 comeback win.
• Sets two and three saw lopsided affairs for both teams. The Mavericks (4-0) claimed the second set 25-15 before the Broncos punched back with a 25-16 win in the third set.
• Santa Clara (1-2) led 20-18 as they looked to clinch the match in the fourth set, but UT Arlington rattled off four answered points to turn the tables and send the match to a fifth-set with a 25-19 victory.
• UT Arlington started red hot in the final set, jumping out to a 4-0 advantage and later a 9-5 lead, but the Broncos weren't going down quietly. After a called timeout, SCU rallied to score the next four points and knot the game at 9-9 and then quickly gained the advantage at 11-10 before a service error ended the scoring spree. The Mavericks took advantage of the possession change by scoring three-straight of their own to regain the lead, and maintained the advantage for the remainder of the set to hold on for the victory.

NOTABLE NUMBERS:

• Three Broncos finished with double-figure kills – Crabtree (12), Oren Abutbul (12) and Cate Shanahan (10).
• Crabtree has now led or tied for the team-lead in kills in all three matches on the season. Shanahan has tallied double figure kills in all three games as well.
• Grace Flanagan had another solid outing, hitting .600 with six kills and zero errors, while adding four aces and a pair of digs.
• Nive Tuileta logged the 29^th double-double of her career with 35 assists and 12 digs.
• Service errors proved costly for the Broncos down the stretch. They committed 15 for the night.
• Santa Clara is now 3-2 all-time against UT Arlington. 

NEXT UP:
The Broncos will look to bounce back tomorrow against Louisiana Monroe. Game time is set for 12:30 p.m. PT.