EDINBURG – The reigning Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Tournament Champion University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) volleyball team knocked off two-time defending regular season WAC Champion New Mexico State 3-2 (25-23, 20-25, 20-25, 25-23, 15-12) on Saturday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
 
Junior Ragni Steen Knudsen led UTRGV (7-7, 1-0 WAC) with a season-high tying 17 kills and 12 digs for her fourth double-double of the season. Senior Bojana Mitrovic posted her fourth double-double with 16 kills and 12 digs. Sophomore Barbara Silva finished with 10 kills, seven digs and four blocks. Freshman Debora Nazario posted her second double-double with 38 assists, a career-high 18 digs and a career-high three blocks. Junior Gysell Zayas recorded a career-high 27 digs and a career-high nine assists.
 
Sasha-Lee Thomas led NM State (8-6, 0-1 WAC) with 18 kills on .368 hitting. Kassandra Thom recorded 12 kills. Tatyana Battle posted a double-double with 11 kills and 21 digs. Brielle Sterns finished with 10 kills on .350 hitting with three blocks.
 
NM State won the first three serves of the first set, but a pair of Silva kills allowed UTRGV to respond with five-straight points to take the lead. Thomas came up with two kills to help NM State regain the lead at 7-6. NM State pushed its lead to 13-10 on an Ariadnne Sierra ace. NM State again led by three at 18-15 after back-to-back Thom kills before Knudsen and Mitrovic kills made the score 17-18. UTRGV regained the lead at 21-20 on a Knudsen kill. Then with the set tied at 23, a service error gave UTRGV set point and a Knudsen kill gave UTRGV a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
After UTRGV dropped the next two sets, NM State jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the fourth set and then extended the lead to 10-5. After a timeout, UTRGV went on a 6-1 run to tie the set at 11 on a block by Nazario and freshman Veronika Jandova. NM State pushed back, going up by as many as five at 21-16. Kills by Mitrovic and Knudsen allowed UTRGV to win the next four serves to pull close. UTRGV tied the set at 22 and 23 on Knudsen kills before reaching set point on a block by Jandova and Silva and winning the set on an attack error.
 
A Knudsen kill and an ace by sophomore Paulina Ramirez allowed UTRGV to take a 4-1 lead in the fifth set. NM State won the next six serves to take the lead before UTRGV came back to tie the set at 10 on a Knudsen kill. Kills by Thom and Jordan Abalos put NM State up 12-10, but UTRGV won the final five serves, punctuated by a block by Knudsen and Jandova, to end the match.
 
UTRGV is back in action on Thursday at 7 p.m. against UMKC at the UTRGV Fieldhouse. The first 200 fans in attendance will receive WAC rally towels. Doors open at 6.

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