Aug. 24, 2007
Box Score
The new era of Angela Hubbard has officially begun as the UTPA women's volleyball program recorded a split in their season opener at the Sun Bowl Invitational hosted by UTEP in El Paso, TX, on Friday (Aug. 24).
The Lady Broncs dropped a 3-0 decision to North Dakota State in the first match of the Sun Bowl Invitational, but came back strong in their second match as the Valley's squad posted a 3-0 sweep of Texas Southern to give Hubbard her first collegiate victory as head coach.
North Dakota State 3, UTPA 0 (30-12, 30-27, 30-22)
In their first match under Hubbard, the Lady Broncs dropped a 3-0 decision to former Independent program and now a member of the Summit League in North Dakota State.
The Bison offense dominated the first game of the match by a 30-12 decision where North Dakota State connected on a .677 hitting percentage to go with 21 kills in 31 total attempts with no errors. The Lady Broncs got off to a slow start offensively as the Valley's squad finish with a .208 hitting percentage with nine kills in 24 total chances with four errors.
The Lady Broncs continued to struggle offensively in the second game of the match with a .109 hitting percentage with 10 kills in 45 chances, but picked up the aggressiveness on the defensive side of the net as they held the Bison to a .279 hitting percentage. North Dakota State was able to escape the game with a 30-27 victory en route to taking a controlling 2-0 lead in the match.
The third and final game of the match had the Bison posting 20 kills in 45 total chances en route to a .311 hitting percentage compared to .029 for the Lady Broncs. UTPA was only able to connect on seven kills in 35 total chances with six errors coming across for the Lady Broncs.
Kelly Lopez led all offensive players for the Bison as the NDSU outside hitter finished with a match-high 18 kills to go along with a .485 hitting percentage. Mattie Johnson posted a strong match for the Bison as the NDSU sophomore dished out a match-high 43 assists to go along with six digs.
Kristen Hille recorded a double-double in the match with a 15-kill, 10-dig performance to go along with a .583 hitting percentage while Christy Stuewe notched the second double-double of the match for the Bison with a 10-kill, 11-dig contest.
Kellie Phillips (Chandler, AZ/Corona del Sol H.S.) notched her first double-double of the season with a 10-kill, 10-dig performance while Chelsea Blakely (Houston, TX/J. Frank Dobie H.S.) dished out a team-high 21 assists.
Jordan Davila (Houston, TX/Mayde Creek H.S.) collected a match-high 15 digs in her collegiate debut at the defensive specialist position.
As a team, the Bison finished with a .395 hitting percentage with 59 kills in 119 total chances compared to .105 for the Lady Broncs, who notched 26 kills in 105 total attacks. The Bison held advantages on the stat sheet over the Valley's squad in assists (50-23), digs (53-41) and total blocks (5.0-2.0).
UTPA 3, Texas Southern 0 (30-19, 30-9, 30-16)
The Lady Broncs came back strong in their second match of the Sun Bowl Invitational as the Valley's squad collected their first victory of the season and Hubbard's career with a dominating sweep of SWAC-opponent Texas Southern.
UTPA used a balanced offensive attack against the Tigers to dominate the match as four hitters collected at least eight kills in the contest with UTPA newcomer Marci Logan (Centennial, CO/Arapahoe H.S.) leading the way with nine kills.
Fellow rookie Danielle Reed (League City, TX/Clear Creek H.S.) collected a stellar match in the second contest of her collegiate career with an eight-kill performance to go along with a .636 hitting percentage. Phillips and Deanna Schneyer (Diamond Bar, CA/Diamond Ranch H.S.) each collected eight kills in the match to aid the Lady Broncs' offense.
Blakely dished out a match-high 33 assists as she also recorded five kills to go along with a .500 hitting percentage, and Davila collected a match-high 13 digs to lead the Lady Broncs for the second consecutive match.
In all three games of the match, the Lady Broncs' defense failed to allow the Tigers to score more than 20 points in the contest as UTPA opened with a 30-19 victory.
The Lady Broncs made a strong statement in the second game of the match with a 30-9 victory where the Valley's squad collected a .684 hitting percentage with 13 kills in 19 total attacks with zero hitting errors in the process.
In the third and final game of the afternoon, the Valley's squad used a .276 hitting percentage with 13 kills in 29 total attacks while holding the Tigers to a -.043 hitting percentage. The Lady Broncs held Texas Southern to a negative hitting percentage in two of the three games.
The Lady Broncs will look to continue their strong play on the second day of competition at the Sun Bowl Invitational where the Valley's squad will square-off against UTEP in their first match followed by a nightcap against Marist College.
UTPA Sports Information
