Aug. 31, 2007
Box Score - UTPA vs. University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Box Score - UTPA vs. Sam Houston State
The University of Texas-Pan American women's volleyball program notched a 1-1 record on the first day of competition at the Domino's Pizza Volleyball Invitational on Friday (Aug. 24) in Huntsville, TX.
UTPA 3, University of Louisiana-Lafayette (30-28, 30-23, 30-23)
The Lady Broncs recorded their first victory over the University of Louisiana at Lafayette since the 2003 campaign with a straight-set victory in the opening match of the Domino's Pizza Volleyball Invitational.
UTPA posted one of its best defensive performances of the season, especially at the net where the Lady Broncs collected 8.0 total blocks by way of 16 block assists, forcing the Ragin' Cajuns to collect a poor .048 hitting percentage.
The Lady Broncs' defense stepped up their level of play in the first frame of the match as they forced the Ragin' Cajuns to commit several untimely errors en route to opening up the set by a 13-6 advantage. The Lady Broncs maintained their seven-point advantage over ULL by a 22-15 set before the Ragin' Cajuns fought back to even the scoreboard at 24-24.
The Ragin' Cajuns and Lady Broncs traded points over the next several players until the score was tied at 28-28. A Kellie Phillips (Chandler, AZ/Corona del Sol H.S.) kill and a hitting error by ULL's Monica Deschaine allowed the Lady Broncs to come away with a 30-28 victory and take a 1-0 advantage in the match.
In the first set of the match, the Lady Broncs finished with a team hitting percentage of .394 by connecting on 15 kills in 33 total attacks with only a pair of errors. On the flip side, the Lady Broncs forced the Ragin' Cajuns' offense to commit 10 errors in 36 total chances to finish with a .194 hitting percentage.
The offense for the Ragin' Cajuns didn't improve at all during the second frame, and the defensive pressure only accumulated for the Lady Broncs as the Valley's program dominated the match by a 30-23 margin. The Lady Broncs quickly captured 15 of the 18 points in the match by forcing ULL to commit eight hitting errors en route to a 15-3 advantage.
UTPA continued to put pressure on the Ragin' Cajuns throughout the second frame and would not allow the visiting team to get within eight points until the final moments of the match where the Valley's team captured the set. The Lady Broncs forced ULL to collect a negative hitting percentage at -.062 by committing 15 total errors to 12 kills in 48 total chances.
In the third and final set, the Lady Broncs overcame an early seven-point deficit at 15-8 to score 22 of the next 30 points en route to a 30-23 victory to close the set. The triumph for the Lady Broncs proved to be a big milestone for the young program as it was biggest comeback victory of the season.
Chelsea Blakely (Houston, TX/J. Frank Dobie H.S.) finished with a match-high 36 assists to go along with five digs and two block assists while Phillips led the Lady Broncs with nine kills and 11 digs.
Danielle Reed had a strong performance with eight kills, five digs and four block assists while Noelle Mayor (Missouri City, TX/Dulles H.S.) recorded one of her best all-around matches with seven kills, six digs, four block assists and four services aces.
The Ragin' Cajuns were led by a match-high 12 kills by Amie Goodwin and 27 assists at the hands of Kendra Hall.
Sam Houston State 3, UTPA 2 (30-24, 31-33, 23-30, 30-24, 15-12)
The UTPA women's volleyball program failed to pick up its second victory of the day as the Lady Broncs dropped a 3-2 decision to the host-team Sam Houston State in the second round of competition at the Domino's Pizza Volleyball Invitational.
The Bearkats came away with a 30-24 victory in the first set of the match, but the Lady Broncs rebounded to take a 2-1 advantage with triumphs of 33-31 and 30-23. However - the host team came back to even the score at 2-2 with a 30-24 victory in the fourth set then came away with the victory with a hard-fought 15-12 decision in the fifth and decisive frame.
Sam Houston State had two players post double-doubles in the match in Brittanie Wallace and Cynthia Yarotsky as the duo combined for 35 kills and 24 digs while SHSU setter Megan McNamara notched a career-high 57 assists to go along with eight digs and four kills in the match.
Phillips notched a team-high 16 kills in the match on a career-high 81 total attacks while Deanna Schneyer (Diamond Bar, CA/Diamond Ranch H.S.) recorded her best match of the season with 13 kills and 8.0 total blocks, including six block assists.
Blakely finished the match with 44 kills to go along with seven digs while Rebecca Toddy (McAllen, TX/McAllen Memorial H.S.) posted a career-high with 20 digs and Ytszel Trinidad (Mercedes, TX/Mercedes H.S.) added 14 digs for the Lady Broncs.
With the setback, the Lady Broncs dropped their overall record to 2-5 on the season while Sam Houston State posted a victory in their season opener.
The Lady Broncs will conclude the Domino's Pizza Volleyball Invitational on Saturday (Sept. 1) with a pair of matches against Tulane (9:00 a.m.) and South Dakota State (2:00 p.m.).
UTPA Sports Information
