Oct. 22, 2004

Box Score

The University of Texas-Pan American women's volleyball (8-12) team dugs itself into a hole on Thursday (Oct. 21) at Memorial Gym against UTEP (8-10) and couldn't find a way out of it as the Lady Broncs fell in straight sets (30-24, 30-23, 30-16) to the Miners.

UTPA sophomore Carol Marcengo (Curitiba, Brazil/SPEI H.S.) reached a milestone in the second game of the match when she notched her 1,000th-career dig en route to finishing with a match-high 22 digs. It was the 11th time this season that Marcengo has recorded at least 20 digs as she entered the contest ranked eighth in the nation in digs per game with a 5.88 average.

Despite Marcengo's efforts, the Lady Broncs were unable to overcome a dominating first set produced by the Miners, who notched a .436 hitting percentage in that game. UTEP racked up 23 kills in 39 chances and became the fourth team this season to hit over .400 against the Lady Broncs in the initial game.

UTEP once again rolled in the second frame with a 30-23 victory. Even with both teams hitting under .200 for the game, the Miners were able to capitalize on nine UTPA hitting errors in the set.

The Miners easily won the third and decisive set against UTPA, hitting .366 for the game compared to the Lady Broncs' .068. In that frame, UTEP recorded only one error compared to the Lady Broncs' 10 en route to the win.

UTEP had a season-high three players record double-doubles in the match. Kari Stacy finished with 16 kills and 13 digs while Christie Murphy added 11 kills and 12 digs. Miners' setter Katie Smith notched 41 assists to go along with 10 digs.

The Lady Broncs were led by sophomore Heather Bravo (Las Vegas, NV/Durango H.S.), who finished with a team-high 14 kills and 17 digs. Karen Lyons (McAllen, TX/McAllen Memorial H.S.) finished the match with 33 assists in a losing effort.

UTPA will be back in action on Friday (Oct. 22) at New Mexico State University with game time slated for 8:00 p.m.

UTPA Sports Information