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EDINBURG – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros volleyball team dropped its home opener to the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders 1-3 (25-19, 16-25, 16-25, 21-25) on Tuesday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
 
Sophomore Bojana Mitrovic led the Vaqueros (2-2) with a match-high 19 kills and a season-high 10 digs for her first double-double. She's now led the Vaqueros in kills in all four matches. Junior Alisha Watson had 11 kills, seven digs and two blocks. Senior Haley Durham had seven kills with six blocks. Freshman Dubravka Vukoja and sophomore Tina Sekulic split the match at the setting position, and each posted double-doubles. Vukoja had 19 assists and 12 digs while Sekulic had 19 assists and 14 digs.
 
Ivy Baresh led the Islanders (4-0) with 18 kills, 14 digs and two blocks. Morgan Carlson had 13 kills with two blocks. Kelsee Felux finished with 10 kills and five blocks. Kristyn Nicholson posted a double-double with 41 assists and 11 digs.
 
The Vaqueros led wire-to-wire in the first set, going up 5-2 on three kills in four points by Watson, 7-3 on a pair of kills by Mitrovic and 9-7 on two kills by freshman Alexandra Ecker.  The Islanders were as close as one before that second kill, but the Vaqueros pushed that lead out to five for the first time at 17-12 on an attack error, and then 18-13 on a kill by senior Haley Durham.
 
The second set was tight early. The Vaqueros led 3-1 after a block by Durham and Mitrovic, but the Islanders came back to take a 5-4 lead on an ace by Hailey King. Mitrovic used a kill to tie it, but the Islanders responded with a 9-4 run to pull away.
 
The third set was also close early. The Vaqueros led 5-4 on a Mitrovic block, but the Islanders came back to tie it at 5-5 on a service error which kicked off a 6-0 run that saw the Islanders go up 10-5. The Islanders led the rest of the way, going up as many a eight at 19-11 on a ball handling error before winning by nine.
 
Down 0-3 out of the gate in the fourth set, the Vaqueros came back to tie it on a Watson kill. The set saw multiple lead changes, with the Vaqueros going up 6-5 on a kill by junior Megan Dempsey, 7-6 on an Ecker kill, 9-7 on a kill and an ace by Mitrovic. The Vaqueros extended their lead to 13-10 on an attack error, but after a timeout, the Islanders went on a 10-3 run to take the lead and clinch the match.
The Vaqueros open up the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Tournament on Friday at 11 a.m. against Incarnate Word before facing Southern at 6:30 p.m. Doors open at 10 a.m. for the first match and 5:30 for the second match.

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