KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) volleyball team recorded its fifth-straight victory by beating Kansas City 3-1 (23-25, 26-24, 25-15, 25-21) on Saturday at Swinney Recreation Center.
Senior
Ragni Steen Knudsen led UTRGV (14-6, 5-1 WAC) with 16 kills on .342 hitting and 14 digs for her ninth double-double. Senior
Dubravka Vukoja dished out 26 assists with 12 digs for her third double-double. Freshman
Pamela Moreira recorded 10 kills. Junior
Talita Oliveira finished with seven kills on .312 hitting with four blocks. Senior
Antonela Jularic had seven kills with 11 digs and three blocks. Making her first-career start at libero, junior
Julia Moctezuma recorded a career-high 13 digs, a career-high six assists and a career-high two aces.
Alicia Harrington led Kansas City (13-7, 4-2 WAC) with 14 kills, eight digs and three blocks.
Tyrecia Lukes also finished with 13 kills and four blocks.
After dropping the first set, UTRGV fell behind 14-19 in the second set. After the two teams traded points for a few serves, UTRGV trailed 18-22. An Oliveira block was the first of three-straight points for UTRGV to make it a one-point set. Then, after a Lukes kill, UTRGV took advantage of two errors and a block by Jularic and senior
Alexandra Ecker to reach set point. One serve later, with the set tied at 24, an error and a Moreira kill tied the match at 1.
UTRGV rode that momentum into the third set, jumping out to an 8-3 lead on two kills each by Ecker and Moreira. UTRGV extended its lead to 11-5 on a Vukoja ace. After Kansas City won the next two serves, a pair of kills by senior
Barbara Silva helped UTRGV score five-straight points to go up nine and push the set out of reach.
The third set was tight throughout, with Kansas City going 19-18 on a Harrington kill. Ecker and Jularic responded with a block, and then kills by Moreira and Knudsen gave UTRGV the lead. After Kansas City pulled within 20-21, a Moreira kill allowed UTRGV to score three-straight points to put the match away.
UTRGV is back in action on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Utah Valley.
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