Box Score

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The University of Texas-Pan American Broncs volleyball team clinched a spot in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament despite a 3-0 (14-25, 17-25, 16-25) loss to the Kansas City Kangaroos on Thursday at Swinney Recreation Center.
 
The Broncs (6-22, 2-11 WAC) clinched the No. 6 seed in their first-ever WAC Tournament due to a 3-0 win by New Mexico State over Chicago State.
 
Junior Haley Durham led the Broncs with nine kills. Freshman Mary Kate Clark dished out 20 assists. Senior Nausheen Merchant recorded 14 digs.
 
Emily Hagedorn led the Kangaroos (23-5, 11-2 WAC) with seven kills on. 583 hitting and three blocks. Jessica Hendin also had seven kills with six digs.
 
The first set was tight early, as the Broncs went up 3-2 on a kill by sophomore Anjané Janda and 6-5 on a kill by sophomore Alisha Watson. After back-to-back kills by the 'Roos, another Watson kill tied the set at 7-7, but the 'Roos scored eight-straight points as part of a 14-2 run to go up 21-9 en route to taking a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
The Broncs led early in the second set as well, going up 1-0 and 3-2 on kills by Durham. The 'Roos came back to go up 7-5 on a Sydney Crimmins kill, but a kill by sophomore Corynn Acuff and an attack error allowed the Broncs to tie it at 7-7. Down 8-10, the Broncs scored three in a row, including kills by Watson and Janda, to take an 11-10 lead. One serve later, a Durham kill put the Broncs up 12-11, but the 'Roos responded with a 9-1 run to pull away and go up 2-0.
 
The 'Roos opened up the third set on an 11-3 run. The Broncs used two kills by Durham and two by Janda to score five of the next seven points and pull within 8-13, but the 'Roos scored the next four points to pull away for the sweep.
 
The Broncs close the regular season on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Chicago State.

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