CHICAGO, Ill. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) volleyball team completed its seventh sweep of the season by beating Chicago State University (CSU) 3-0 (25-18, 27-25, 25-19) on Thursday at the Jacoby Dickens Center.
 
Senior Ragni Steen Knudsen led UTRGV (13-6, 4-1 WAC) with 17 kills on .341 hitting and 11 digs for her eighth double-double. Junior Barbara Silva posted her sixth double-double with 12 kills and a career-high 15 digs. Senior Alexandra Ecker recorded seven kills on .333 hitting with three blocks.
 
Kirah Williams-Shephard led CSU (7-13, 1-3 WAC) with eight kills. Lauryn Dela Cruz recorded seven kills with 13 digs while Beatiz Palmieri had seven kills with 11 digs.
 
The first set was a back-and-forth affair over the first 20 serves, as the set was tied at 10. UTRGV broke the tie by taking advantage of an error and getting an ace from senior Gysell Zayas and a kill from Silva. Then, with the score 13-12, Ecker and senior Barbara Thais Krug sandwiched a Silva ace with kills before an Ecker block put UTRGV up 17-12. UTRGV led by at least four for the rest of the set.
 
UTRGV trailed 16-20 late in the second set, but after two errors, senior Antonela Jularic and Silva came up will kills to tie the set. Then, after back-to-back Dela Cruz kills, Jularic and Knudsen kills tied the set at 22. CSU reached set point a 24-23 before a Knudsen kill tied the score. CSU then went up 25-24, but an error and kills by Silva and Jularic ended the set.
 
UTRGV trailed early in the third set, going down 4-5 before two Ecker blocks, including one with Knudsen and one with senior Dubravka Vukoja, allowed UTRGV to score four in a row to take the lead. CSU pulled within 8-10, but that's when a kill and two aces by Knudsen powered a 10-2 run to push the set out of reach.
 
UTRGV is back in action on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Kansas City (13-6, 4-1 WAC). 

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