WACO – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley volleyball team closed out the Hampton Inn North Baylor Invitational with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-7, 25-13) victory over Prairie View A&M (PVAM) on Saturday at the Ferrell Center.
 
Sophomore Ragni Steen Knudsen led UTRGV (2-1) with 11 kills on .304 hitting, seven digs and two aces. Senior Alisha Watson finished with 10 kills on .364 hitting, seven digs and two aces.
 
Larissa Martinez led PVAM (0-3) with 10 kills.
 
UTRGV trailed early in the first set, going down 2-4, but a Kundsen kill sparked a 6-0 run to make it 8-4 on a Watson ace. Then, after PVAM closed to within 8-9 on a Mykaeli Franklin kill, UTRGV scored four-straight points to push the lead to five. UTRGV's lead shrunk to 14-12, but UTRGV scored eight of the next 12 points to pull away for a 1-0 lead.
 
UTRGV prevented PVAM from scoring on consecutive serves throughout the second set, building leads of 2-0 and 6-1 on attack errors, 9-2 on a Knudsen kill, 12-3 on a Watson kill, 15-4 on an attack error, 17-5 on a bad set, and 22-6 on an attack error before scoring the final three points on a kill by sophomore Alexandra Ecker and two kills by Watson.
 
UTRGV jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the third set on a Knudsen ace. PVAM came back to tie the set at 5-5, 6-6, 7-7 and 8-8, but a kill by senior Joanna Boronczyk sparked a 16-4 run as UTRGV pulled away to complete the sweep.
 
UTRGV next competes against host Tulane at the Allstate Sugar Bowl Tournament on Friday at 7 p.m.

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