BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) volleyball team fell 2-3 (22-25, 25-22, 15-25, 25-20,13-15) in a thriller to CSU Bakersfield on Thursday at Icardo Center.
 
UTRGV (15-11, 9-4 WAC) and CSU Bakersfield (16-12, 9-4 WAC) are now tied for second place in the standings with one match left in WAC play. New Mexico State has clinched the top seed with a win 3-2 win over Grand Canyon on Thursday. 
 
UTRGV was led by sophomore Barbara Silva, who had a match-high 18 kills while adding three digs. Sophomore Ragni Steen Knudsen recorded her ninth double-double of the season after posting 13 kills and 12 digs. Sophomore Dubravka Vukoja paced the offense with 45 assists and added a team-high 15 digs for seventh double-double.
 
Aleksand Djordjevic led CSU Bakersfield with 15 kills and chipped in 12 digs while Sydney Haynes and Mattison DeGarmo added 12 kills. Emily Lopes posted a match-high 21 digs while Sidney Wicks paced CSU Bakersfield's offense with 37 assists. 
 
The first set was close early on as a service ace by freshman Kellie Woodin gave UTRGV the 5-4 lead. A CSU Bakersfield service error pushed the lead to 10-7 before the Roadrunners battled back to tie the set with three straight points. CSU Bakersfield jumped out to a 17-12 lead after a 7-2 run but UTRGV stayed close as they got within one before falling in the first set.
 
UTRGV answered back in the second set as they scored five of the first six points. Later in the set, an ace by freshman Jackie Kingsbury pushed UTRGV's lead to 9-5. CSU Bakersfield got within one at 12-11 after an ace by Krista Hernandez but UTRGV answered with an 8-2 run that was capped by an ace by junior Gysell Zayas that made it 20-13. CSU Bakersfield had one more push late in the set but a kill by junior Alexandra Ecker closed out the set.
 
CSU Bakersfield returned the favor in the third set as they scored five of the first six points taking the lead, which they would not relinquish. A kill by freshman Veronika Jandova got UTRGV within 6-10 and then later in the set a kill by Silva made it 11-16 as CSU Bakersfield ran away with it.
 
The fourth set went back-and-forth the whole way as UTRGV took the 5-4 lead with a kill by Silva early on. Senior Bojana Mitrovic made it 9-8 UTRGV with one of her four kills in the set. CSU Bakersfield would take the 13-12 lead but Silva tied it back up with another kill. No team would have bigger than a two-point lead until a kill by Mitrovic gave UTRGV the 23-20 lead before they scored the final two points to close out the set.
 
In the fifth set, UTRGV jumped out to a 3-0 lead but CSU Bakersfield quickly answered with seven straight points of their own before a kill by sophomore Ragni Steen Knudsen stopped the run. A kill by Mitrovic got UTRGV within one at 8-9 before an attack error tied the set at nine. Both teams would exchange points until CSU Bakersfield got back-to-back points to make it 13-11 but UTRGV answered back with two straight to tie it again before CSU Bakersfield got the final two points to close out the set and the match.
 
UTRGV will close out the regular season on Saturday when they travel to Phoenix, Arizona to play Grand Canyon University at 2 p.m. at the GCU Arena.

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