BOX SCORE

EDINBURG, Texas- The University of Texas-Pan American volleyball team were hoping third time was the charm against in-state rival Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. However, despite holding a 2-1 lead, the Islanders rallied back to take the final two sets to knock off the Broncs 3-2 (21-25, 25-19, 22-25, 25-23, 15-10) Tuesday night at the UTPA Fieldhouse. The loss extends the Broncs' losing skid to 10 matches.

The Broncs (1-11) and Islanders (6-5) battled back and forth like a heavyweight-boxing match on Tuesday. The two teams combined for 32 ties and 22 lead changes over the five sets.

In the opener, the Broncs built their largest lead of the set at 20-14 after a pair of Ashley Phelps attack errors. The Islanders would pull to within two points at 21-19 after a 5-1 run capped off by a block by Brianna Brink and Jordan Flemmer prompting a Broncs timeout. Junior hitter Ijanae Holman tallied the kill to put the Broncs ahead 24-20 and two points later Diara Reynolds gave the Broncs the 25-21 set victory with a kill of her own.

The Islanders responded with a solid beginning-to-end performance in the second set. TAMUCC led nearly wire to wire to take the second set 25-19.

In the third stanza the Broncs and Islanders battled with 12 ties and 10 lead changes. The Broncs battled to the early 3-0 advantage. The Islanders took the lead by scoring four straight points and led 4-3. Neither team had a lead larger than three points during the set. The Broncs later found themselves down 22-21 after a Logen Bourque kill. The Broncs responded with three straight points to take the lead at 24-22. The two teams traded the next two scores to give the Broncs the 25-23 victory in the set and 2-1 advantage.

The fourth set was also tight, this time with 10 ties and five lead changes. The Broncs fell behind by four points after a Shauna Miller service error, making the score 22-18 in favor of the Islanders. The Broncs would pull to within one at 24-23 after kills from Maria Kliefoth and Diara Reynolds. Isabella Arcdiacono clinched the set for TAMUCC at 25-23 on the next serve.

In the final set, the two squads battled to a 15-10 decision with the Broncs falling just short of their first home victory.

“We won some sets tonight which was a confidence boost for the girls and something that we were focused on doing,” UTPA head coach Brian Yale said. “We made a few errors in that fourth set to kind to give them what they needed to finish and in the fifth set anything can happen.”

Holman was solid on both sides of the net for UTPA. The junior posted a season best 18 kills to go with 13 digs for her third double-double of the season. Michelle McNamee chipped in with a season best 12 kills and Sarah Davis, Reynolds and Kliefoth each chipped in with eight kills apiece. Shauna Miller had a career high in assists with 51. Juri Franzen was again the star on defense with 26 digs.

Brink and Brooke Alverson led the Islanders on offense with 15 and 11 kills respectively. On the defensive side Jessica Korda led for TAMUCC with 25 digs.

Next up for the Broncs is a trip to Pennsylvania as the Broncs compete in their final tournament of the season at Robert Morris University. UTPA will battle the tournament host Robert Morris on Friday with a noon start time.