The Florida Atlantic Owls (20-13, 12-7 AAC) made their first-ever appearance in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) Tournament on Friday and were swept by the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) (21-10, 9-7 WAC) Mavericks at Memorial Gym in El Paso, Texas. The Owls were swept by the Mavericks and were eliminated.

The first set was back and forth the whole time until the Mavericks went on a 4-0 run late in the set. UTA won with a score of 25-20, with a combined seven points coming from service errors. 

FAU’s sophomore outside hitter Arianna Beckham and junior middle blocker Kaila Ru combined for four kills and one block. UTA’s senior outside hitter Brianna Ford led both teams with five kills and one block. UTA’s senior middle blocker Paige Reagor added four kills in the Mavericks’ opening set win.

The second set was close the whole set, with UTA winning by a score of 25 to 22. Beckham added five kills and one block for the Owls, while junior outside hitter Valeria Rosado added four kills and one block. The dynamic duo of Ford and Reagor had five kills each, with Ford recording three blocks and Reagor recording one. The Owls had two service errors in this set that helped the Mavericks gain the lead late in the set. 

The third and final set of the first round was very different from the first two sets with the Mavericks leading by five or more points the whole set. The Mavericks completed the sweep with a final score of 25 to 18. 

Beckham recorded an additional four kills and one block, while Ru and junior outside hitter Romina Cornelio each had three kills. Ford had her best set of the night for UTA with 10 kills and one block. Reagor had five kills in the final set. For the Owls, Beckham was the only player to record double-digit kills with 11, while Ford had 20 kills and six blocks, and Reagor had 14 kills and four blocks for the Mavericks. 

This was the Owls’ first 20-win season since 2018 and they went 12-7 in conference play en route to their first-ever appearance in the NIVC postseason tournament. 

The Mavericks move on to the second round and will face the winners of the University of Texas at El Paso and the University of North Texas this Saturday at 4 p.m. on ESPN+. For the Owls, they will return to Boca Raton as their season has ended.

Courtney Kemper is a staff writer for the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories, email her at ckemper2022@fau.edu or @courtneykemperr on Instagram