NEW ORLEANS, La. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley volleyball team fell to Sam Houston State University (SHSU) 2-3 (25-11, 18-25, 25-23, 14-25, 11-15) in their second match of the Allstate Sugar Bowl Tournament on Saturday at Devlin Fieldhouse.
 
Junior Bojana Mitrovic led UTRGV (3-2) with 14 kills, 11 digs and five blocks. Sophomore Ragni Steen Knudsen recorded 14 kills and 18 digs. Freshman Barbara Silva recorded 10 kills with six blocks. Junior Fatoumata Dacosta posted 21 digs while junior Tina Sekulic dished out 32 assists with eight digs.
 
Jordyn Vaughn led SHSU (3-2) with 15 kills, 14 digs and four blocks. Brooke White finished with 13 kills and 13 digs. Michelle Griffith recorded 39 assists with 15 digs. Taylor Cunningham finished with seven kills and seven blocks.
 
After SHSU scored the first point of the match, Mitrovic used kills to bookend a 7-1 run to put UTRGV up 7-2. SHSU scored the next two points, but UTRGV scored the following five points as part of a 14-4 run to go up 22-8 en route to taking a 1-0 lead.
 
SHSU jumped out to an 8-4 lead in the second set, but a pair of blocks by Silva with an assist each by Kundsen and sophomore Dubravka Vukoja helped bring UTRGV within 7-8. UTRGV was still within one at 8-9 on a Knudsen kill, but SHSU responded with a 10-3 run to push the set out of reach.
 
SHSU took leads of 4-1 and 5-2 in the third set, but four Mitrovic kills and three Silva kills powered a 9-4 run to give UTRGV the lead. UTRGV pushed its lead to six multiple times, including at 23-17 on a Silva kill. SHSU scored the next points to tie it, but kills by sophomore Alexandra Ecker and senior Alisha Watson ended the set.
 
White had a pair of early kills to give SHSU a 6-2 lead in the fourth set. UTRGV pull within 5-7 on a Silva kill, but SHSU responded with an 11-5 run en route to tying the match.
 
Ecker had a kill and combined with Mitrovic on a block to give UTRGV a 2-0 fifth set lead. Then, with the score 3-1, SHSU scored five-straight points to take the lead. SHSU pushed its lead to 11-5, but a pair of Knudsen kills sandwiched a bad set to bring UTRGV within 8-11. Vaughn and White answered with kills, however, as SHSU scored four of the final six points.
 
UTRGV closes out the tournament when it faces Bethune-Cookman at 4:30 p.m.

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