BOCA RATON, Fla. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) volleyball team closed out the Owls Classic with a 3-2 (11-25, 26-24, 25-19, 22-25, 15-13) victory over host Florida Atlantic University (FAU) on Saturday at FAU Arena.
 
Sophomore Ragni Steen Knudsen led UTRGV (8-5) by recording her 10^th double-double with a career-high 25 kills, three aces, 11 digs and two blocks. Freshman Barbara Silva recorded 12 kills on .346 hitting with a career-high tying eight blocks.
 
Maja Ristic led FAU (5-9) with 19 kills and 14 digs. Sigourney Kame finished with 16 kills on .364 hitting.
 
After dropping the first set, UTRGV trailed 3-4 in the second set. A Knudsen kill, though, sparked an 8-3 run that saw UTRGV go up 11-7. FAU scored five of the next six points to tie it at 12. FAU regained the lead at 18-17 on a Ristic kill, but Silva responded with a kill as UTRGV scored four-straight points to go up 21-18. UTRGV reached set point at 24-23 and 25-24 on Knudsen kills before winning the set on another Knudsen kill.
 
UTRGV trailed 2-3 at the start of the third set, but Knudsen came up with a pair of kills and an ace to power a 6-1 run that put UTRGV up 8-4. Then, with the lead cut to 10-7, UTRGV scored four-straight points, including two Silva blocks, to push the lead to 14-7. FAU scored six of the next seven points to pull within two, but a pair of kills by senior Alisha Watson helped fuel a 5-1 run as UTRGV pulled away for a 2-1 lead.
 
UTRGV led 7-5 early in the fourth set, but FAU scored five of the next six points to take the lead. Knudsen followed with three kills as UTRGV scored four in a row to go up 12-10, but FAU again scored five of six to regain the lead. UTRGV tied the set at 15 on a block by Watson and sophomore Alexandra Ecker. FAU followed with its third 5-1 run of the set to go up 20-16 before kills by sophomore Barbara Thais Krug, Silva, and Knudsen, and a block by Silva and sophomore Dubravka Vukoja brought UTRGV within 20-21, but that's as close as they got as FAU tied the match at 2.
 
FAU jumped out to leads of 3-1 and 4-2 in the fifth set, but after a Knudsen kill, UTRGV tied the set on a ball handling error. UTRGV took the lead at 6-5 on a Krug kill and led again at 8-7 on a ball handling error. FAU scored the next two to take the lead, but UTRGV tied the set at 9 and 10 on Silva kills before tying it at 11 on an attack error. UTRGV took a 12-11 lead on a Knudsen kill before winning it on another Knudsen kill.
 
FAU jumped out to an 11-2 lead in the first set. UTRGV pulled as close as 7-13 on a Silva kill and 8-14 on an Ecker kill, but FAU scored the next seven points to pull away for a 1-0 lead.
 
UTRGV plays its home opener on Tuesday at 7 p.m. when it hosts Prairie View A&M at the UTRGV Fieldhouse. It's $2 Tuesday, featuring $2 general admission tickets and concession items for $2 or less. Gates open at 6.

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