CORPUS CHRISTI – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros volleyball team swept the Texas Southern University Tigers 3-0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-9) in the Comfort Suites Islanders Classic on Saturday at Dugan Wellness Center.
 
Junior Alisha Watson led the Vaqueros (5-4) with 12 kills on .346 hitting to go with three aces and three blocks. Senior Haley Durham had nine kills on .438 hitting with three blocks. Sophomore Bojana Mitrovic had eight kills with eight digs and three blocks. Sophomore Tina Sekulic had 30 assists.
 
Kali Fluke led the Tigers (1-5) with 11 kills on .500 hitting to go with two blocks. Asia Howard had 12 assists while Allison Woods recorded 13 digs.
 
Watson had a pair of early kills and an ace as the Vaqueros jumped out to a 5-1 first set lead. The Tigers stayed close for a little while, pulling within 13-15, but a Durham kill was the first of four-straight points by the Vaqueros. It turned out to be a 7-1 run, which was capped by a Mitrovic kill. Mitrovic also had a kill to bring the Vaqueros to set point before a Taylor Dickerson attack error ended the set.
 
The Tigers took their lone lead of the match on a Robyn Shannon kill on the first serve of the second set, but Shannon followed that up with an attack error and then a Durham kill gave the Vaqueros the lead for the rest of the set. The Vaqueros pushed their lead to as large as seven on a Mitrovic kill that made it 17-10.
 
The Vaqueros won the second set on a block by Watson and Durham, and opened up the third set the same way. Then, after an error tied the set, freshman Fatoumata Dacosta had a kill and Watson served up back-to-back aces to give the Vaqueros a 4-1 lead. A few serves later, up 7-5, the Vaqueors went on an 8-1 run, capped by a Mitrovic kill, to push the set out of reach. The Vaqueros scored the final eight points of the set, three of which came on aces by junior Megan Dempsey, two of which came on blocks by Mitrovic and freshman Alexandra Ecker, and two of which came on kills by Dempsey and Mitrovic.
 
The Vaqueros close out the tournament at 6 p.m. against host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Support UTRGV Volleyball | Become a Fan on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter | Follow us on Instagram | Follow us on YouTube