Aug. 25, 2006

UTPA vs. Texas State - Box Score

UTPA vs. USC - Box Score

The UTPA women's volleyball program had a rough start to its 2006 campaign when the Lady Broncs dropped a pair of matches against Texas State and USC on the first day of competition at the Texas State CenturyTel/Classic Honda Premier in San Marcos, TX, on Friday (Aug. 25).

Texas State 3, UTPA (30-25, 30-26, 30-28)
The Lady Broncs experienced a little bit of offensive rust against the Bobcats as UTPA finished the match with a .070 hitting percentage after converting on 37 kills, but committing 28 errors in the process. UTPA had its roughest offensive performance in the third and closest set of the match when the Lady Broncs committed 13 errors that game compared to only three for the Bobcats.

Texas State looked strong in its first match of the season after the Bobcats notched a team hitting percentage of .230 and out-killing the Lady Broncs by a 46-37 margin. The tale of the match came in the miscues forced by the Lady Broncs as they committed 11 more errors (28-17) than the Bobcats.

In the first game of the match, the Bobcats pulled out a 30-25 decision while finishing with a .256 hitting percentage then won the follow-up game by a 30-26 margin. In the third and decisive game, the Bobcats posted a .245 hitting percentage and made the most of the Lady Bronc miscues en route to winning by a 30-28 margin.

Senior Heather Bravo (Las Vegas, NV/Durango H.S.) posted a double-double (kills-digs) in her first match of the season with a 12-kill, 12-dig performance while recording a .265 hitting percentage. Chelsea Blakely (Houston, TX/J. Frank Dobie H.S.) added 30 assists in the match to go along with eight digs and three service aces while Chrissie Carrigan (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada/Mount Douglas S.S.) collected a match-high 16 digs in the contest.

Lawrencia Brown collected a match-high 17 kills in the contest to go along with an impressive .361 hitting percentage, and Christina Melvin quarterbacked the Bobcats' offensive with a team-high 30 assists.

The Bobcats held advantages over the Lady Broncs in kills (46-37), hitting percentage (.230-.070), assists (41-34), service aces (6-5) and total blocks (5.0-4.0). Despite posting 15 service aces in the match, Texas State was able to hang on for its first victory of the season.

USC 3, UTPA 0 (30-24, 30-19, 30-14)
The UTPA offense didn't fare much better in the second match of the Texas CenturyTel/Classic Honda Premier as the Lady Broncs dropped a straight-set decision to nationally-ranked USC (30-24, 30-19, 30-14) in the nightcap.

The Trojans' defense deserved a lot of credit for their victory as they finished the match with 9.0 total blocks, including a trio of solo blocks by USC middle blocker Bethany Johansen. In the match, Johansen also struck the Lady Broncs offensively as she finished with seven kills and a .500 hitting percentage in the match.

The Lady Broncs struggled in the match as they recorded 33 errors compared to 26 kills and ended the match with a -.057 hitting percentage. In all three games, the Lady Broncs failed to hit on the positive side of the percentage points as they fell in the match.

The first set of the match was the closest for the Lady Broncs as they dropped a 30-24 decision then suffered a 30-19 and 30-14 setback in the second and third game to fall to the Trojans.

Kellie Phillips (Chandler, AZ/Corona del Sol H.S.) collected her first double-double (kills-digs) of the season with an 10-kill, 11-dig performance, but was one of five Lady Bronc offensive players to finish with a negative hitting percentage.

Blakely added a team-high 21 assists in the match while Carrigan and Bravo notched 11 and 10 digs, respectively, for the Lady Broncs.

Asia Kaczor finished with a match-high 14 kills to lead USC, and Diane Copenhagen aided the offensive cause with a 10-kill performance for the Trojans. USC dished out 10 more assists than UTPA by a 35-25, and 25 of those assists came at the hands of the setter Taylor Carico.

The Trojans upped their record to 2-0 on the season while the Lady Broncs fell to 0-2.

UTPA will be back in action on Saturday for a pair of matches with North Texas (11:00 a.m.) and University of Wyoming (4:30 p.m.).

UTPA Sports Information