EDINBURG – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) volleyball team is in sole possession of first place in the Western Athletic Conference for the first time in program history following a 3-1 (25-15, 25-12, 23-25, 25-20) victory over CSU Bakersfield on Saturday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
 
UTRGV (12-8, 6-1 WAC) has now won eight-straight home matches and is 8-0 at home for the first time in NCAA Division I program history.
 
Senior Bojana Mitrovic led UTRGV with 14 kills and 10 digs for her eighth double-double of the season. Sophomore Barbara Silva recorded 13 kills on .407 hitting with four blocks. Junior Ragni Steen Knudsen finished with nine kills, nine digs and three aces. Freshman Veronika Jandova recorded seven kills on .312 hitting with five blocks and a career-high two aces. Junior Dubravka Vukoja dished out 37 assists with a career-high tying 19 digs for her fourth double-double.
 
UTRGV served up a season-high 10 aces, the team's highest total since Sept. 16, 2016 against Abilene Christian.
 
Haylee Roberts led CSU Bakersfield (12-10, 5-2 WAC) with 13 kills on .367 hitting.
 
Mitrovic and Jandova each had a pair of early kills as UTRGV jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first set. CSU Bakersfield got as close as 7-8 before three Mitrovic kills and two Silva kills powered a 10-3 run to put UTRGV up 18-10 en route to a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
The second set was tight early, with CSU Bakersfield going up 10-8 on a Desiree Sukhov kill. Jandova answered with a kill and an ace as UTRGV won four-straight serves to take a 12-10 lead. Then, with UTRGV's lead 15-12, Silva recorded three kills in a span of four serves to spark a 10-0 run to end the set.
 
After dropping the third set, UTRGV bolted out to a 6-0 lead in the fourth set. UTRGV still led by six at 7-1 after a Silva kill. CSU Bakersfield responded with a 10-3 run to pull within 10-11, and were still within one at 20-21, but kills by Silva and Knudsen sparked UTRGV to score the final four points and win the match.
 
UTRGV is back in action on Saturday at 12 p.m. at New Mexico State.

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