BOX SCORE

WACO, Texas- The University of Texas-Pan American (UTPA) volleyball team opened play in the Fairfield Inn North Baylor Classic with a 3-0 (25-8, 25-19, 25-10) loss to the University of Northen Colorado Friday afternoon at the Ferrell Center. With the loss the Broncs are now 1-4 on the season with three straight defeats. The Bears improve to 3-2 with the victory.

In the opening set the Broncs pulled to within two at 6-4 after Ijanae Holman's kill. The Bears then took six straight points with Breanna Williams' service ace capping off the run to give UNC a 12-4 lead. UNC then exploded again for a 13-4 run, including the final six points, to close out the set. Williams tallied six kills for the Bears in the opening set.

The Broncs looked prepared for a set win over their own in the second stanza as they took the early 8-3 lead after a pair of kills from Holman capped off the run. Krysta Freitas gave the Broncs a five point advantage for the third time with her kill to make the score 14-9 UTPA.

The Bears rattled off five straight points and tied the set at 14-14 with a Natalie Laband kill. After trading the next four points, UNC took their first lead of the set on a service aee by Kelley Arnold, putting the Bears on-top 17-16. Arnold's ace was part of set ending 10-3 run by the Bears.

In the final set the Bears, who are projected to win the Big Sky Conference, continued with their momentum from the close of set two to sweep past the Broncs 25-10. Williams tallied three kills and two service aces in the set opening 12-4 run. A kill from UTPA's Michelle McNamee pulled the Broncs to 16-8 as they attempted a rally. However, The Bears finished the set and the match with a 9-2 run.

"We shot ourselves in the foot today by not being able to pass the ball the way we wanted to," UTPA head coach Brian Yale said. "Northern Colorado was solid all the way around, they have a good line-up that we felt we were prepared for, but today we couldn't get plays started because of our passing and that is what hurt us."

Freitas led the way for UTPA on offense with seven kills and 26 total attacks. Holman followed up with five kills of her own. On defense Juri Franzen chipped in with 13 digs.

"We saw both teams that we are playing tomorrow before we left the arena today so we have a feel of what they like to do," Coach Yale added. "We need to pass the ball better and have a better effort and we can put ourselves in position to do some good things tomorrow."

The Broncs will continue play in the Baylor Classic tomorrow afternoon when they face off against tournament host Baylor University with a match start time of 12:30 pm. Later in the afternoon the Broncs will wrap up play against the Cowgirls of McNeese State with a 5:00 pm start time.