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KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The sixth-seeded University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros volleyball team won its first-ever Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Tournament match by upsetting the third-seeded Utah Valley University Wolverines 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-14) in the quarterfinals on Thursday at Swinney Recreation Center.
 
The Vaqueros advance to the semifinals against second-seeded CSU Bakersfield (12-14, 10-4 WAC) on Friday at 5 p.m. The Vaqueros beat the Roadrunners 3-0 (25-12, 25-17, 25-16) in their most recent meeting on Nov. 7 at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
 
This was the Vaqueros' (12-18) first win over the Wolverines (14-14) since Oct. 28, 2005, snapping a 23-match losing streak.
 
Sophomore Bojana Mitrovic led the Vaqueros with a career-high tying 25 kills on .400 hitting, eight digs and two blocks. That's the most kills by a WAC player in a three set match this season. Senior Haley Durham had 11 kills on .292 hitting with four digs, three blocks and two aces. Freshman Dubravka Vukoja dished out 41 assists with eight digs and a career-high tying two aces. Junior Fatoumata Dacosta had 17 digs, a career-high six assists and one ace.
 
Mitrovic now has 444 kills this season, tied with Heather Bravo (2006) for the third-highest single-season total in program history. The record is 460, set by Jaclyn Muszynski in 2003.
 
WAC Freshman of the Year Abby Jensen led the Wolverines with 11 kills on .455 hitting, 12 digs, two blocks and three aces. Sierra Starley dished out 23 assists.
 
The first set was tight early, but after the Vaqueros went down 5-7, Durham came up with four kills to power an 11-2 run and put the Vaqueros up 16-9. A kill and an ace by Lexi Thompson helped the Wolverines pull within 12-16, but the Vaqueros got kills from junior Alisha Watson and Mitrovic to push their lead back out to 19-12. The Vaqueros went up 21-14 on a Watson ace before the Wolverines went on a 7-1 run to pull within 21-22. Durham responded with a kill, and then, after a Mitrovic kill, Durham came up with one more kill to end the set.
 
The Vaqueros scored the first four points of the second set on a kill by Durham, an ace by Vukoja and back-to-back kills by Mitrovic. The Vaqueros extended their lead to 10-5 on a Mitrovic ace, but the Wolverines pulled to within 11-13 on consecutive blocks by Thompson and Lauren Bakker. Mtirovic responded with three-straight kills and then Dacosta served up an ace to push the set out of reach.
 
The Wolverines led 2-1 at the start of the third set, but Durham came up with a kill and an ace to spark a 7-1 run that saw the Vaqueros go up 8-3. After the Wolverines pulled within 6-10, the Vaqueros went on an 11-2 run, capped by a Mitrovic kill, to put the match away.

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