WACO – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley volleyball team picked up its first ever win over Baylor, which finished last season ranked No. 47 in the RPI, 3-1 (25-23, 20-25, 28-26, 25-21) on Friday at the Ferrell Center in the first match of the Hampton Inn North Baylor Invitational.
 
The win snaps an eight-match skid for UTRGV (1-0) against Baylor (0-1) during which time UTRGV was 1-22 in sets. The previous set win was in 1983, a span of at least 19 sets.
 
This is UTRGV's first win over a current or former Big 12 institution since Oct. 20, 1973, a 2-0 win at Texas, snapping a 26-match losing streak. It is UTRGV's first win over a Big 12 institution since the NCAA started sponsoring women's championships.
 
Senior Alisha Watson led UTRGV with a career-high 23 kills on .333 hitting and 16 digs. Sophomore Ragni Steen Knudsen recorded 10 kills with 13 digs and three blocks while junior Bojana Mitrovic finished with nine kills, 12 digs and three blocks. Junior Tina Sekulic dished out 47 assists with 12 digs while senior Fatoumata Dacosta recorded a team-high 19 digs.
 
Katie Staiger led Baylor with 28 kills on .324 hitting, 15 digs and four blocks. Camryn Freiberg finished with 10 kills and five blocks.
 
UTRGV trailed 1-5 out of the gate in the opening set, but kills by Knudsen and Watson sparked a 14-6 run that saw UTRGV go up 15-11. Baylor came back to tie the set at 21 on an attack error, but a Watson kill and a block by Knudsen and freshman Barbara Silva gave UTRGV a lead they did not relinquish.
 
Baylor went up 19-12 in the second set, but UTRGV again came back, going on an 8-2 run to pull within 20-21 on back-to-back Watson kills before Staiger came up with three-straight kills to push the set out of reach.
 
The third set was tight throughout, but Baylor pulled away late to get to set point at 24-21 on a Freiberg kill. UTRGV, however, was undeterred, as kills by Watson and Mitrovic forced Baylor to take a timeout. Watson followed by serving up an ace to tie the set, and then a block by Silva and Knudsen gave UTRGV set point. Later, with the set tied at 26, UTRGV took advantage of consecutive attack errors to take a 2-1 lead.
 
Baylor led by as many as three in the fourth set, going up 13-10, but a Mitrovic kill sparked a 9-3 run that saw UTRGV go up 19-16. Then, after Baylor pulled within 19-18 on back-to-back Staiger kills, sophomore Alexandra Ecker and Watson came up with kills before an attack error made it 22-18. Then, on match point, Sekulic set-up Silva for the match-winning kill.
 
UTRGV continues the tournament on Saturday at 1 p.m. against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi before facing Prairie View A&M at 5.

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