Photo Gallery

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The fifth-seeded University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) volleyball team upset top-seeded and host New Mexico State, the No. 73-ranked team in the latest RPI, 3-1 (25-23, 25-20, 16-25, 25-23) in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Tournament Semifinals on Friday at the Pan American Center.
 
UTRGV (20-13) advances to the WAC Tournament Championship Game for the first time in program history. If UTRGV beats second-seeded Utah Valley on Saturday at 8 p.m., UTRGV will advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history. UTRGV split the season series with Utah Valley, winning 3-1 at home on Sept. 22 and falling 2-3 on the road on Oct. 22. In their only previous WAC Tournament meeting, UTRGV beat Utah Valley 3-0 in last year's quarterfinals.
 
UTRGV now has 20 wins for the first time in NCAA DI program history after previously winning 19 in 2003 and 1996.
 
This was UTRGV's first win in 16 tries all-time against NM State (23-7).
 
Senior Alisha Watson led UTRGV with 13 kills and two aces.  Junior Bojana Mitrovic recorded nine kills and four blocks. Sophomore Ragni Steen Knudsen posted eight kills and six digs. Freshman Barbara Silva finished with eight blocks while senior Joanna Boronczyk had seven. Senior Fatoumata Dacosta came up with 23 digs.
 
Tatyana Battle led NM State with 14 kills and 10 digs. Jordan Abalos had 13 kills and 12 digs. Kassandra Tohm had 13 kills as well.
 
The first set was a back-and-forth affair. UTRGV was down 9-10 early, but a Mitrovic kill was the first of three-straight points for UTRGV to make it 12-10. NM State scored six of the next eight points to take a 16-14 lead on a Brianna Ainsworth ace, but UTRGV scored the next two to tie it. UTRGV also pulled even at 18 on a Knudsen ace and 20 on an attack error. Two serves later, down 20-22, UTRGV took advantage of back-to-back attack errors to tie it. Then, after an Abalos kill, Silva and Watson came up with kills before an Abalos attack error ended the set.
 
UTRGV led for most of the second set, going up 1-0 and 2-1 on Mitrovic kills, 5-3 on an error, 6-4 on a Watson kill, and 8-6 on a Watson ace. Then, with the set tied at 9, UTRGV took advantage of three Boronczyk blocks to score five-straight and take the lead. NM State responded by scoring the next six points to go up 15-14. NM State went up 17-15 on an Alexsa Parker ace and 18-16 on a Tohm kill, but another Boronczyk block and back-to-back kills by sophomore Alexandra Ecker gave UTRGV the lead. Then, after NM State tied the set, Watson came up with a kill and an ace and Knudsen followed with two kills to help UTRGV close the set on a 6-1 run.
 
After NM State won the third set, UTRGV jumped out to leads of 5-2, 6-3 and 9-4 in the fourth set. NM State responded by scoring four-straight as part of a 10-3 run to take a 14-12 lead on an Abalos kill. Then, with UTRGV down 13-15, Silva came up with back-to-back kills to spark a 5-0 run that put UTRGV up 18-15. Tohm answered with kills to bookend a 5-0 run that put NM State up 20-18. UTRGV came back to tie the set at 21 on a Dacosta ace and 22 on a Knudsen kill. Then, after a Battle kill, a Knudsen kill tied it, a block by Silva and Ecker brought UTRGV to match point, and a block by Ecker and Mitrovic ended it.

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