VB Final Score 11-17-17
Jesica Gonzalez
Ragni Steen Knudsen (#1)
1
Utah Valley UVU 15-16, 9-5 WAC
3
Winner UTRGV UTRGV 17-11, 10-4 WAC
Utah Valley UVU
15-16, 9-5 WAC
1
Final
3
UTRGV UTRGV
17-11, 10-4 WAC
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Utah Valley UVU 27 25 24 21 (1)
UTRGV UTRGV 29 21 26 25 (3)

Game Recap: Volleyball |

Volleyball Advances to WAC Tournament Championship Match for Second Year in a Row

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EDINBURG – The second-seeded University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) volleyball team will have an opportunity to defend its Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Tournament Championship after defeating third-seeded Utah Valley University (UVU) 3-1 (29-27, 21-25, 26-24, 25-21) in the WAC Tournament Semifinals on Friday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse in front of an over-capacity crowd of 1,256.
 
UTRGV (17-11) will face fourth-seeded CSU Bakersfield (18-13), which beat top-seeded New Mexico State 3-1, on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the UTRGV Fieldhouse. The winner will advance to the NCAA Tournament. Doors open at 6.
 
UTRGV won the WAC Tournament Championship in 2016 while CSU Bakersfield won in 2014.
 
UTRGV is now 11-0 at home this season.
 
Junior Ragni Steen Knudsen led UTRGV with a career-high 26 kills on .386 hitting with nine digs. Senior Bojana Mitrovic posted her 14th double-double with 18 kills on .265 hitting and 14 digs. Sophomore Barbara Silva recorded 11 kills with four blocks. Junior Dubravka Vukoja dished out a career-high 60 assists, including 21 in the first set. Junior Alexandra Ecker finished with eight kills and four blocks, breaking the NCAA Division I program record for block assists, now with 277. The record was previously held by Haley Durham (274, 2012-15).
 
Madison Dennison led UVU (15-16) 20 kills on .533 hitting and seven blocks. Lexi Thompson recorded 11 kills with 13 digs and five blocks while Kristen Allred finished with 10 kills, 11 digs and four blocks.
 
UTRGV jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first set on the power of two Knudsen kills. UTRGV extended its lead to 14-8 on another Knudsen kill before UVU won four-straight serves to pull within two. UTRGV responded with a 6-3 run to go up 20-15 on another Knundsen kill, but Utah Valley scored the next six points to take a 21-20 lead. Then, with the set tied at 23, a Dennison kill gave Utah Valley set point before a kill by Mitrovic and a Dennison attack error gave UTRGV set point. UVU successfully defended on set point three times before an Ecker kill ended the set.
 
After UVU won the second set, UVU led early in the third set, going up 11-9. UTRGV scored the next three points to take the lead on a Silva kill, and the set stayed tight the rest of the way, with neither team going up by more than one until a block by Thompson and Brighton Taylor put UVU up 22-20. A Mitrovic kill and two attack errors put UTRGV up 23-22, and then a Thompson kill tied the set. Two serves later, with the set tied at 24, Knudsen came up with back-to-back kills to give UTRGV a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
UVU won the first three serves of the fourth set before back-to-back Knudsen kills helped UTRGV score four-straight points. Then, after UVU scored three more points, Silva came up with consecutive kills and Mitrovic added a kill to put UTRGV up 7-6. One serve later, with the set tied at 7, UTRGV went on a 9-1 run, winning the last seven serves of the run, to go up 16-8 on a Jandova kill. UTRGV took its largest lead at 18-9 on a Mitrovic kill. UVU responded with a 12-5 run to pull within 21-23 before an attack error by Dennison and a block by Mitrovic and Jandova ended the match.
 
The match featured 16 lead changes and 38 ties.

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