Freshman middle blocker Abbey Bybel plays in a game against ECU on Sept. 21. (Jeffrey Mark Reese/The Daily Campus)

SMU volleyball took on the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) on the road Oct. 25, but Caroline Young’s match-high 24 kills were not enough to lead the Mustangs to a victory.

Young had a set-high nine kills leading the Mustangs to a 25-18 victory in the first set.

The Mustangs never trailed behind the Blazers by more than one point and beat the Blazers 22 digs to 16 and hitting .410 for the set.

SMU took an early 10-5 lead in the second set, but the Blazers quickly came back on a 6-1 run to tie the score at 11.

The Mustangs scored the next two points, but the Blazers scored 14 of the next 16 points and won against the Mustangs 25-15.

The Mustangs came out strong in the third set, scoring four of the first six points and the Blazers had a quick come back once again by scoring nine of the next eleven points and taking the lead 11-5.

The Mustangs then took a 5-2 run, but could not fight off the Blazers. UAB won the set, 25-17. Young had seven kills in the set and took her match total to 18.

SMU fought back in the fourth set taking a 25-20 victory. Abbey Bybel and Maddie Lozano lead the Mustangs with Bybel’s five kills and Lozano’s four.

UAB left with the victory after the 15-12 win in the fifth set for the 3-2 victory over the Mustangs.

“In the fifth set we started behind so we were always playing catch up,” Lozano said.

“Since the fifth set only goes to 15 points, it is always important to not get behind, but that’s what we did.”

Young and two other Mustangs left UAB with at least three kills. Freshman Bybel scored 13 kills and five digs and Lozano had 10 kills and five blocks. Setter Olivia Bailey ended the match with 48 assists and 17 digs.

“I think our weakness in the UAB game was the passing and our connections,” Bybel said. “The next week in practice we worked on our rotations a lot and made our connections way better.”

The Mustangs hosted Memphis in Moody Coliseum on Sunday for Student Athlete Advisory Committee’s (SAAC) Pack the House event and took the victory over the Tigers in five sets.

SMU will take on UTEP Friday, Nov. 2 in El Paso, Texas.