Box Score

EDINBURG – The University of Texas-Pan American Broncs volleyball team recorded its first Western Athletic Conference win of the season, 3-2 (26-24, 21-25, 22-25, 25-16, 15-13) over the Grand Canyon University Antelopes on Saturday at the UTPA Fieldhouse.
 
Four Broncs (3-12, 1-1 WAC) reached double-figures in digs, three of whom recorded new career-highs as senior Nausheen Merchant had 22, redshirt junior Macey Singleton had 21 and sophomore Alisha Watson had 19 to go with 14 kills and three aces for her first double-double of the season. Senior Krysta Freitas finished with 10 digs. Junior Maisy Munson posted a career-high 32 assists over the first three sets while freshman Mary Kate Clark finished with 23 over the final two sets. Junior Haley Durham led the Broncs with 16 kills as a season-high four Broncs reached double-figures in kills. Redshirt senior Maria Kliefoth had 12 kills to go with a career-high tying four aces. Sophomore Anjané Janda finished with 10 kills and eight digs.
 
Three Antelopes (11-5, 1-2 WAC) reached double-figures in kills, led by Shannon Dugan, who had 15 with 13 digs and three aces. Natalie Tardy recorded 12 kills while Megan Byrnes had 11.
 
Down 8-10 in the first set, the Broncs use a pair of Kliefoth kills to power a 7-3 run to go up 15-13. After a timeout, though, the Antelopes got two kills from Byrnes to help spark a 10-3 run. The Antelopes reached set point at 24-20 on a Dugan kill, but after a Watson kill, the Broncs took advantage of four errors while mixing in a block by Durham and senior Diara Reynolds to come back and take the set.
 
The Broncs led 3-0 early in the second set on a kill and an ace by Kliefoth, as well as a kill by Durham, and then 6-4 on another Durham kill, but the Antelopes scored the next six points and led the rest of the way before tying the match at 1-1.
 
The Broncs jumped out to an 11-3 lead in the third set, but the Antelopes started chipping away for the rest of the set, tying it for the first time at 19-19 on a Byrnes kill. The Antelopes took their first lead at 22-21 on a setting error by Munson, and then took the lead for good at 23-22 on a ball handling error by Watson en route to taking a 2-1 lead.
 
Down 0-3 out of the gate in the fourth set, a kill by Watson and two by Durham sparked the Broncs on a 12-1 run as they took a 12-4 lead. The Antelopes pulled within six on five occasions, including 13-19 on a Durham attack error, but that's as close as they got. The Broncs pushed their lead back out to eight on multiple occasions, including 24-15 on a Watson kill, and then won the set on a block by Kliefoth on the very next serve.
 
The fifth set was tight throughout. The Broncs went up 7-4 on a Reynolds kill, but the Antelopes scored the next three to tie it. With the set tied at 8-8, Kliefoth and Watson came up with back-to-back kills. Then, with the Broncs up 14-13, Durham ended the match with a kill.
 
The Broncs open up a four-match road trip on Thursday at 8 p.m. when they visit Seattle U.

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