HOUSTON – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros volleyball team opened the season with a 3-1 (25-18, 21-25, 25-20, 25-22) victory over the Louisiana Tech Techsters on Friday at Sharp Gym in the opening match of the Marriott Houston Westchase Invitational, hosted by Houston Baptist.
 
Sophomore Bojana Mitrovic led the Vaqueros (1-0) with a match-high 17 kills and four blocks. Senior Haley Durham also had four blocks with go with three kills. Redshirt junior San Benito Kasey Sanchez had eight kills on .350 hitting. Freshman Dubravka Vukoja recorded a match-high 30 assists.
 
Angela Papach led the Techsters (0-1) with 14 kills while Marta Monne had 11. Adria Morales dished out 24 assists and Brooke Short had 23. Alejandra Aviles had a match-high 18 digs.
 
Sanchez had a pair of kills as the Vaqueros took an early 5-3 lead in the first set. Later, with the score 12-10, Mitrovic had three kills and Sanchez had two more to power a 9-1 run as the Vaqueros ran away for a 1-0 lead.
 
The Vaqueros jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the second set thanks in part to a pair of blocks by Mitrovic, but Morales recorded a pair of kills to spark a 9-2 run as the Techsters took a 10-8 lead. The set stayed tight for a little while, but after the Vaqueros pulled within 16-17, the Techsters called a timeout and then Monne had three kills in the span of four points to propel the Techsters to their lone set victory of the match.
 
The Vaqueros led 6-1 at the start of the third as well, thanks in part to two kills by Mitrovic and one by Sanchez. The Techsters again came back to take the lead, using three kills by Monne in a row to power an 8-1 run. The set again stayed close, but this time, with the set tied at 16-16, it was the Vaqueros who took control, using a kill by freshman Alexandra Ecker, two by Mitrovic and one by Durham to pull away for the win.
 
The fourth match was tight throughout, and the Vaqueros trailed 17-19 late, by junior Alisha Watson and Ecker had consecutive kills to tie it, and then, after a 24-18 lead became 24-22, Mitrovic ended the match with a kill.
 
The Vaqueros play two matches on Saturday, facing the host Huskies at 10 a.m. before finishing up the tournament against Alcorn State at 4 p.m.

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