SMU women’s volleyball team plays against Auburn on Sept. 8 in Moody Coliseum. The team lost, 3-0. (Mark Reese/The Daily Campus)

The Mustangs (3-10 and 0-1 in Conference USA) did not start off its conference play the way the team wanted, losing 3-1 at Tulsa Wednesday night.

After dropping the opening set, the Mustangs evened the match in the second after several heroic efforts by senior Olivia Bailey and sophomore Carla Armstrong.

Bailey and Armstrong had impressive evenings, accounting for 12 of the team’s 42 total kills to go with 29 digs.

Bailey also added 31 assists to gain a third double-double on the season.

SMU was down 11-8 before rallying to tie the score at 17-17.

Tulsa tried to counter but the Mustangs were able to hold the team off for the 26-24 set victory.

The third set played out very similarly to the second, as the Golden Hurricanes and the Mustangs battled back-and-forth with each team gaining leads that couldn’t be held.

The Mustangs would fight back from a 23-17 hole, but a final kill by Tulsa put SMU down in the match 2-1 and on the brink of defeat.

No drama was left for the fourth set as the Golden Hurricanes ended the match quickly.

The Mustangs could not overcome Tulsa’s quick start and lost 25-8.

The team headed into that first conference match at Tulsa after the Oklahoma Invitational last weekend.

In the tournament, the Mustangs finished 1-2. The team fell 3-0 to both New Mexico and Oklahoma.

The lone five-set victory was against Arkansas-Little Rock.

In the fifth and final set SMU scored seven straight points to overcome a five point deficit taking a 10-8 lead and never looking back.

In the game, four SMU players had at least 10 kills­­-Caroline Young (20), Courtney Manning (16) and freshmen Abbey Bybel (15) and Cailin Bula (13).

Young also recorded her 500th career block against the Sooners becoming the second to do so in team history and seventh in Conference USA.

She is 28 blocks away from breaking Kendra Kahanek’s 2009 SMU record of 530.

The loss in Tulsa Wednesday sent SMU to a 0-1 start in conference play, but the Mustangs will have a chance to quickly gather itself as the team returns to the friendly confines of Moody Coliseum on Friday at 7 p.m. to host East Carolina.

The match will be the first of two over the weekend as SMU also plans host to Marshall at 1 p.m. on Sunday.