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EUGENE, Ore. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) volleyball team swept Northern Illinois University (NIU) 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-18) during the Oregon Classic on Friday at Matthew Knight Arena.
 
Junior Ragni Steen Knudsen led UTRGV (2-3) with 17 kills on .452 hitting. Sophomore Barbara Silva recorded 12 kills and eight digs. Senior Bojana Mitrovic posted her first double-double of the season with 11 kills and 13 digs. Freshman Debora Nazario dished out 46 assists with eight digs.
 
Jori Radtke led NIU (0-5) with 10 kills.
 
NIU scored the first four points of the match and maintained its lead for the first 18 serves, going up 10-8 on a Radtke kill. A kill by junior Alexandra Ecker sparked a 6-0 run as UTRGV took its first lead at 14-10. After NIU won the next two serves, kills by Ecker and Knudsen allowed UTRGV to push its lead back to four. UTRGV extended its lead to five for the first time at 20-15 on a block by Ecker and Silva en route to a first set victory.
 
NIU scored the first four points of the second set as well, going up 5-1. UTRGV responded with a 6-1 run to take the lead on a Nazario ace. Later, with the scored tied at 9, Silva, Knudsen and Mitrovic all came up with kills while Mitrovic added an ace to put UTRGV up 13-9. UTRGV extended its lead to five at 19-14 on an attack error and seven on a Knudsen kill that made it 22-15 as UTRGV took a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
NIU led 2-0 to start the third set, but a pair of Knudsen kills helped UTRGV go up 3-2. One serve later, with the score tied 3, UTRGV took advantage of an error and a Knudsen kill to take the lead. UTRGV led the rest of the way. NIU was within 17-20 late, but a Silva kill and a pair of Knudsen kills allowed UTRGV put the match away.
 
UTRGV wraps up the tournament on Saturday at 4 p.m. against Loyola Marymount.

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