KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) volleyball team fell to UMKC 1-3 (21-25, 25-23, 25-27, 12-25) on Thursday at the Swinney Recreation Center.
 
Freshman Barbara Silva led UTRGV (17-13, 6-7 WAC) with a career-high tying 16 kills. Senior Alisha Watson posted her fifth double-double of the season with 15 kills, 11 digs and three blocks. Sophomore Ragni Steen Knudsen had 13 kills and seven digs.
 
Alicia Harrington led UMKC (15-11, 8-5 WAC) with 15 kills and eight blocks. Devan Porter recorded 11 kills with nine digs and three blocks. Madison Mosier also came up with 11 kills while Emma Hagedorn had 10 kills on .500 hitting and four blocks.
 
The first set was tight early, as UTRGV was within 3-4 on a Watson kill. A Mosier kill, however, sparked a 6-1 run as UMKC built a 10-4 lead. UTRGV scored nine of the next 14 points to pull within 13-15 on a Watson kill, and stayed within 14-16 on another Watson kill, 15-17 on a kill by sophomore Barbara Thais Krug, and 17-19 on a Knudsen kill, but back-to-back Hagedorn kills pushed UMKC's lead to four and the teams traded points for the rest of the set.
 
UTRGV took the early lead in the second set, going up 5-3 on a Silva kill. Then, after UMKC regained the lead at 8-7, kills by Knudsen and Watson gave UTRGV the lead again. UTRGV went down 14-15 on an error, but rebounded to score four-straight points to take the lead. UMKC pulled as close as 19-20 on a Harrington kill, but back-to-back Silva kills helped UTRGV pull away for the win.
 
The third set was a see-saw affair much of the way, with neither team leading by more than three. UTRGV built leads of 10-7 on a Watson kill, 11-8 on an error, 12-9 on a block by Watson and senior Joanna Boronczyk, 13-10 on an error, 14-11 on a Silva kill, and 21-18 on a Watson kill. UMKC scored four-straight to take the lead, but a Silva kill was the first of three-straight points to bring UTRGV to set point at 24-22. UMKC scored the next three to reach set point itself, but a Watson kill evened the score. Mosier followed with a kill to give UMKC set point and then a block by Porter and Hagedorn ended the set.
 
UMKC jumped out to an 11-4 lead in the fourth set. Three Watson kills helped UTRGV pull within 10-14, but UMKC scored the next four points as part of a 10-1 run to pull away for the win.
 
UTRGV closes out the regular season on Saturday at 12 p.m. when it visits Chicago State.

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