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EDINBURG – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) volleyball team is off to its best start since the NCAA started sponsoring women's championships (1981) after beating Seattle U 3-1 (25-19, 21-25, 25-21, 25-16) on Saturday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
 
The only time UTRGV (11-5, 2-0 WAC) is known to have gotten off to a better start is 1973, when it was 14-2 while competing in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW).
 
Winners of four in a row, UTRGV is now 2-0 in conference play for the first time in program history.
 
Junior Bojana Mitrovic led UTRGV with a season-high 24 kills without an error on 54 attacks for a .444 hitting percentage to go with seven digs and four blocks. Sophomore Ragni Steen Knudsen recorded her 12^th double-double of the season with 12 kills and 14 digs and a career-high four aces. Senior Alisha Watson posted 12 kills on .296 hitting with four digs and three blocks. Sophomore Alexandra Ecker recorded eight kills with six blocks while freshman Barbara Silva also had six blocks to go with five kills. Silva now has 68 blocks this season, the third-highest single-season total for a freshman in program history. Silva needs one block to pull into a tie with Danielle Reed (69, 2007) for second and 12 to tie Deanna Schneyer (80, 2005) for the record.
 
Matea Mamic led Seattle U (7-7, 0-1 WAC) with 13 kills and 11 digs. Katarina Marinkovic finished with 10 kills and 14 digs.
 
Mitrovic had nine of her kills in the first set, including five of UTRGV's first eight points as UTRGV took an 8-6 lead. Then, after Seattle U pulled within one, Knudsen came up with back-to-back kills as UTRGV went on a 10-4 run to take an 18-11 lead. UTRGV maintained its lead the rest of the way, with Knudsen ending the set with a kill.
 
UTRGV led 7-6 after a Silva kill in the second set, but a kill and an ace by Mamic powered a 4-0 run to give Seattle U the lead. A kill and two aces by Knudsen helped UTRGV pull even at 11. But with the set tied at 13, Seattle U scored three-straight points to take the lead. UTRGV pulled within 20-21 on a Mitrovic kill, but Mamic had two kills over the final four serves to end the set.
 
UTRGV led 6-5 in the third set when a Knudsen kill sparked an 8-2 run to make it 14-7. Seattle U pulled to within 12-15 on a Mamic kill, but three-straight blocks by Silva and sophomore Dubravka Vukoja put UTRGV up six. UTRGV pushed its lead to eight on a Watson kill that made it 22-14 en route to taking a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
UTRGV jumped out to a 10-4 lead in the fourth set on the power of three Mitrovic kills. Seattle U scored five of the next six points to pull within two, but two more Mitrovic kills helped UTRGV go up 15-10. UTRGV extended its lead to 20-12 on a Watson kill before completing the victory.
 
UTRGV is back in action on Thursday at 8 p.m. when it visits Grand Canyon.

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