RICHARDSON, TX (09.17.21) - The UT Dallas volleyball team nearly rallied for the upset ot No. 10 Mary Hardin-Baylor before a 3-1 defeat Friday night as the Comets suffered their first regular-season ASC home loss since the 2012 season.

The Comets (4-6, 2-1 ASC) fell behind UMHB early, dropping the first two sets to the Cru, 25-20 and 25-18. However, UTD responded with a key 28-26 win in the third set before narrowly dropping the fourth set, 29-27, despite having a pair of set points in the stanza.

Abby Jones closed the night with a career-best 18 kills, hitting at an impressive .311 clip, and added a season-high 23 digs. Catherine Croft tacked on 14 kills, along with 19 digs, while Jaryn Towery added 11 kills to round out the Comets in double-digits. 

The visiting Cru (9-0, 5-0 ASC) hit .231 in the opening set to grab a 1-0 lead and then pushed their lead to 2-0 after hitting .296 in the second. The Comets stormed back, however, in the third, hitting .286 of their own, to push UMHB to a fourth set after the Cru seemed to be positioned for a sweep. The Comets collected 23 kills in the third, with just five errors, with Jones picking up nine of her 18 kills in the set. However, UTD hit just .138 in the fourth and still had two chances to force a fifth set.

Down 22-20 in the fourth, the Comets rolled off three straight points, including back-to-back kills by Croft, to take a one-point lead. UMHB answered with two points of its own to earn its first match point, 24-23. Another Croft kills knotted the set an a Sydney Fitt service ace pushed the Comets set point, 25-24. The two teams then traded points with an Erin Rogers' kill giving UTD a second set point, 26-25. The Cru again answered with two straight points for their second match point, 27-26, before Towery even the match with a kill. UMHB then took advantage of a Comet error and completed the match with a kill by Kylie Metcalf.

Fitt led the Comet offense with 31 assists while Mikayla Cho had 25 assists. Croft had a team-high three blocks.

The loss snapped a stretch of 50-straight ASC regular-season home victories by the Comets. UTD's last such defeat came against Hardin-Simmons, 3-2, on Oct. 6, 2012.

The Comets will look to bounce back Saturday with a 2 p.m. ASC home match against Concordia Texas.