BEAUMONT – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros volleyball team fell to the Tulane Green Wave 1-3 (23-25, 28-30, 25-15, 24-26) on Saturday at the Cardinal Classic at McDonald Gym.
 
The last five sets that the Vaqueros (5-7) have lost have all been by two points.
 
Sophomore Bojana Mitrovic led the Vaqueros with a season-high 24 kills on .352 hitting to go with 11 digs for her fourth double-double. Junior Alisha Watson set a new career-high in kills for the second-straight match with 20 on .356 hitting. Senior Haley Durham had a season-high tying 11 kills. Freshman Alexandra Ecker had a career-high eight kills on .316 hitting with eight digs. Sophomore Tina Sekulic had a career-high tying 55 assists and nine digs.
 
Tea Juric led the Green Wave (5-5) with 28 kills on .436 hitting and 13 digs. Sarah Ray had 16 kills and 13 digs. Elizabeth Hurring dished out 48 assists.
 
A kill and an ace by Juric allowed the Green Wave to score the first three points of the match, but the Vaqueros quickly tied the first set on back-to-back kills by Mitrovic. The Green Wave regained their three-point lead on a Sarah Strasner kill that made it 8-5, but the Vaqueros turned it around and took their own three-point lead at 20-17 on a kill by Ecker. The Green Wave took the lead back at 23-22 after a Ray kill. Durham tied it with a kill of her own, but a Ray kill and an attack error ended the set.
 
Juric started strong in the second set as well, using two kills and an ace to help the Green Wave go up 5-1. Three-straight kills by Mitrovic toward the end of a 7-1 run, however, allowed the Vaqueros to go up 8-6. The Vaqueros led by as many as five at 13-8 on a Watson kill before Juric came up with three kills to carry the Green Wave within 12-13. Back-to-back Watson kills put the Vaqueros up 17-13, but the Green Wave scored the next four points to tie it. Neither team led by more than two for the rest of the set. The Vaqueros had the first opportunity at set point, going up 24-23 on an Ecker kill, but a Juric kill and an attack error gave the Green Wave set point. The Vaqueros tied it four more times before a Juric kill and an attack error gave the Green Wave a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
The Vaqueros jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the third set on a Mitrovic kill, and then extended that lead to 9-4 and 13-7 on Watson kills. After back-to-back points by the Green Wave, Watson had a kill and two aces to power an 8-2 run as the Vaqueros pushed the set out of reach.
 
Juric had a pair of early kills as the Green Wave took a 4-1 lead in the fourth set. The Vaqueros closed to within 4-5 on an ace by junior Megan Dempsey before tying the set at 7 on an Ecker kill. The Vaqueros took their first lead at 9-8 on a kill by redshirt junior San Benito alum Kasey Sanchez, but a Juric kill sparked a 9-4 run to make it 17-13 Green Wave. The Vaqueros came back to tie the set at 21 on a Sekulic ace. The Green Wave got to match point twice. The first time, Mitrovic responded with a kill to tie it at 24, but after an attack error, Juric ended the match with a kill.
 
The Vaqueros close out the tournament at 3 p.m. against Jackson State.

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