KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The sixth-seeded University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros volleyball team fell to the second-seeded CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners 0-3 (19-25, 22-25, 28-30) in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Tournament Semifinals on Friday at Swinney Recreation Center.
 
Sophomore Bojana Mitrovic led the Vaqueros (12-19) with 16 kills on .244 hitting, four digs and two blocks. Senior Haley Durham finished with 12 kills on .250 hitting and three blocks. Freshman Dubravka Vukoja dished out 32 assists with eight digs and a career-high five blocks. Junior Fatoumata Dacosta had 18 digs and four assists.
 
Durham finishes her career as the all-time program record holder in career blocks (341), block assists (274) and blocks per set (0.83) while ranking fifth in block solos (67) and hitting percentage (.236) and seventh in kills (953).
 
Mitrovic finishes the season averaging a program record 4.30 kills and 12.37 attacks per set to go with a program record-tying 460 total kills and a program record 1,324 total attacks.
 
Kelsee Sawyer led the Roadrunners (13-14) with 17 kills on .533 hitting. Luiza Martins dished out 39 assists with nine digs and two blocks. Sydney Haynes had a match-high seven blocks with five kills.
 
The Vaqueros and Roadrunners traded points in the early going, but with the first set tied at 3, the Roadrunners took advantage of three errors to build an 8-5 lead. The Vaqueros pulled within 8-9 on a block by Vukoja and junior Joanna Boronczyk, but a Haynes kill sparked a 4-0 run as the Roadrunners pushed their lead out to five. The Vaqueros scored five of the next seven points to pull within 13-15, and were still within two at 16-18 on a Mitrovic kill, but the Roadrunners scored the next five points to push the set out of reach.
 
The Roadrunners led 3-2 early in the second set, but after a Mitrovic kill, junior Alisha Watson came up with three-straight kills to put the Vaqueros up 6-3. The Vaqueros pushed their lead to 8-4 on a kill by freshman Alexandra Ecker, but Edithza Urias bookended a 4-0 run with kills to help the Roadrunners tie the set. The Vaqueros and Roadrunners alternated points until the set was tied at 13, when a pair of Mitrovic kills powered a 5-0 run to make it 18-13. The Vaqueros still led at 19-16, but the Roadrunners scored five-straight points as part of a 7-1 run to come from behind for the win.
 
The Vaqueros trailed 3-4 early in the third set, but a pair of Mitrovic kills sparked a 5-1 run to make it 8-5. After trading points, the Roadrunners scored three-straight to tie the set at 9, but kills by Mitrovic and Watson pushed the Vaqueros' lead back to two. The Vaqueros led again at 16-15 after a Durham block, and were still tied at 17 after a Boronczyk block, but the Roadrunners scored the next three points to take the lead. The Vaqueros trailed 21-23 when kills by Mitrovic and Durham and a block by Ecker and Vukoja brought them to set point, but a Carol Grasso kill tied it. The Vaqueros again had set point at 25-24 on a Durham kill and 27-26 on a Durham block. The Vaqueros also tied the set at 28 on a Durham kill before kills by Sawyer and Grasso ended the match.

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