EDINBURG – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) volleyball team finished the regular season an NCAA Division I program record 10-0 at home by beating Utah Valley University (UVU) 3-0 (25-19, 26-24, 25-19) on Saturday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
UTRGV (15-10, 9-3) is now assured of a top-three finish in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and clinch one of the top spots and a first round bye in the WAC Tournament by winning at CSU Bakersfield (8-4) on Thursday at 9 p.m.
UTRGV remains one match back of New Mexico State (10-2), which beat Seattle U 3-0 on Saturday, for first place.
The win allows UTRGV to clinch a winning record for the second year in a row. UTRGV now has an NCAA DI program record nine conference wins.
Sophomore
Barbara Silva led UTRGV with 17 kills while adding three blocks. Senior
Bojana Mitrovic posted her 12
th double-double of the season after recording 14 kills and a match-high 21 digs.
Junior
Ragni Steen Knudsen posted her eighth double-double after recording 10 kills and 10 digs. Junior
Dubravka Vukoja paced the offense with 44 assists.
Lexi Thompson led Utah Valley (12-15, 7-5 WAC) with 13 kills while adding in 14 digs.
UTRGV jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first set on the power of an ace and a kill by Vukoja. UVU tied the set at 3 before UTRGV embarked on a 7-2 run to go up 10-5 on a Thompson attack error. UTRGV led by as many as six, including at 19-13 on a kill by freshman
Veronika Jandova, before winning the set on a Silva kill.
Silva had a pair of early kills to help UTRGV jump out to a 4-0 lead in the second set before UVU rallied back to tie the set at seven before taking a 9-7 lead. UTRGV regained the lead at 13-12 after a kill by Knudsen but the match would go back-and-forth seeing 15 total lead changes and eight different ties. UTRGV took the set after back-to-back kills by Silva.
After UVU scored the first point of the third set, UTRGV went on a 5-0 run that was capped by a kill by senior
Alexandra Ecker. Later in the set, a kill by Mitrovic pushed UTRGV's lead to 8-4 but UVU answered with a 6-4 run to get as close as two at 12-10. UTRGV extended their lead with an 8-0 run of their own putting the set out of reach for UVU.
UTRGV will be back in action on Thursday, November 9 when they visit CSU Bakersfield at 9 p.m.
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