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EDINBURG – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) volleyball team came back from an 0-2 deficit to pull off a 3-2 (21-25, 21-25, 25-16, 25-16, 15-7) victory over Seattle U on Thursday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
 
This is the first time UTRGV (14-10, 8-3 WAC) has come back from an 0-2 deficit in five tries this season and the first time since Sept. 16, 2016 against Abilene Christian.
 
UTRGV improves to 9-0 at home for the first time in NCAA Division I program history and has now won an NCAA DI program record eight conference matches.
 
UTRGV is now in sole possession of second place in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) standings, one match behind New Mexico State (9-2), which swept Utah Valley (7-4) on Thursday, with three matches to play before the WAC Tournament.
 
Junior Ragni Steen Knudsen led UTRGV with 19 kills, five digs, a season-high four aces and two blocks. Sophomore Barbara Silva recorded 18 kills. Senior Bojana Mitrovic posted her 11^th double-double with 14 kills and a career-high 18 digs.  Junior Dubravka Vukoja recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 55 assists and 11 digs. Junior Alexandra Ecker came up with eight kills on .353 hitting with four blocks. Freshman Veronika Jandova finished with five kills on .625 hitting, four blocks and four digs.
 
Katarina Marinkovic led Seattle U (9-14, 5-5 WAC) with 21 kills on .357 hitting, 11 digs and six blocks.
 
After dropping the first two sets, UTRGV caught fire, taking leads of 4-1 and 8-3 to open the third set. UTRGV built a 17-9 lead on a Mitrovic kill and then went up 21-11 on a block by Vukoja and Jandova. UTRGV won the set on a block by Knudsen and junior Alexandra Ecker.
 
The fourth set was tight early, as the score was tied at 4 on a Marinkovic kill. A Silva kill, however, sparked an 8-2 run to put UTRGV up 12-6. Seattle U got as close as 9-13 before UTRGV won six out of nine serves to go up 19-12 on a Jandova serve and push the set out of reach.
 
UTRGV jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the fifth set on two Ecker kills, a Silva kill, a block by Ecker and Silva, and a Vukoja ace. Seattle U got as close as two at 5-7 before Mitrovic and Silva each came up with a trio of kills to allow UTRGV to close the match on an 8-2 run.
 
UTRGV plays its final regular season home match on Saturday at 12 p.m. against Utah Valley. UTRGV will honor Mitrovic and fellow senior Tina Sekulic in a special pre-match ceremony. Doors open at 11 a.m.

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