HOUSTON – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros volleyball team swept the Alcorn State University Braves 3-0 (25-10, 25-12, 25-18) on Saturday at Sharp Gym to close out the Marriott Houston Westchase Invitational, hosted by Houston Baptist.
 
Sophomore Bojana Mitrovic led the Vaqueros (2-1) for the third-straight match with 13 kills on .273 hitting en route to All-Tournament Team honors. Junior Alisha Watson had seven kills and two blocks. Freshman Alexandra Ecker recorded five kills and three blocks en route to All-Tournament Team honors. Freshman Dubravka Vukoja posted her first-career double-double with 24 assists and 11 digs.
 
Taylor Scriven and Smione Joiner led the Braves (0-3) with seven kills each.
 
The Vaqueros outhit the Braves .294 (14-4-34) to -.086 (4-7-35) in the first set to take a 1-0 lead. Up 6-4 in the first set, redshirt junior San Benito alum Kasey Sanchez came up with a kill and an ace to spark a 17-4 run as the Vaqueros pulled away.
 
In the second set, the Vaqueros led 3-2 when Mitrovic came up with back-to-back kills to start off a 7-2 run to go up 10-4. The Braves pulled within 10-14, but Watson and Mitrovic came up with back-to-back kills and then, after a Braves error, Ecker came up with a kill and an ace as part of a 6-0 run to push the set out of reach.
 
The third set was tight early, but with the score tied 7-7, Mitrovic came up with a pair of kills and Watson added one to help the Vaqueros build a 13-8 lead. The Vaqueros extended their lead to as much as seven on a Mitrovic ace that made it 21-14 en route to completing the sweep.
 
For the match, the Vaqueros outhit the Braves .229 (34-12-96) to .029 (21-19-97).
 
The Vaqueros kick off a four-match home stand on Tuesday at 7 p.m. when they host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.

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