EDINBURG – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) volleyball team clinched at least a share of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Championship, a top-two finish and a first round bye in the WAC Tournament by beating Chicago State University (CSU) 3-1 (25-19, 15-25, 25-22, 25-18) on Thursday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
 
Combined with New Mexico State's (11-4 WAC) 3-2 win over Kansas City (11-4 WAC), UTRGV (21-8, 12-3 WAC) is now assured of finishing at least tied for first place.
 
UTRGV closes out the regular season against Kansas City on Saturday at 12 p.m. at the UTRGV Fieldhouse. If UTRGV wins, UTRGV will be the outright WAC Champion and number one seed in the WAC Tournament for the first time in program history.
 
UTRGV is in the midst of the second 21-win season in NCAA Division I program history after also winning 21 matches in 2016, the year UTRGV won the WAC Tournament Championship and reached its first NCAA Tournament.
 
Additionally, UTRGV drew 622 fans to break the single-season program record, now at 8,998 with one match remaining. UTRGV drew a then program record 8,861 fans last season.
 
Senior Ragni Steen Knudsen led UTRGV with14 kills, 14 digs and four blocks for her 12^thdouble-double. Junior Barbara Silva finished with 11 kills, nine digs and three blocks. Senior Dubravka Vukoja posted her seventh double-double with 27 assists and 11 digs. Senior Alexandra Ecker recorded a match-high six blocks with six kills and six digs. 
 
Lauryn Dela Cruz led CSU (9-23, 3-12 WAC) with 10 kills, 18 digs and five blocks. Alexandria Cliff finished with 10 kills on .381 hitting.
 
The first set was tight early, with the first multi-point lead coming when UTRGV went up 8-6 on an error. Then, with the score tied at 9, a block by Knudsen and Ecker sparked an 8-3 run to put UTRGV up 17-12. CSU won the next two serves to pull within three before UTRGV went on a 7-2 run to reach set point. After three-straight points by CSU, a Knudsen kill ended the set.
 
After dropping the second set, UTRGV scored the first two points of the third set. UTRGV extended its lead to three for the first time at 10-7 on a block by Knudsen and Ecker. UTRGV went up by four at 15-11 on an error and five at 19-14 on another error. CSU came back to tie the set at 21. A pair of Silva kills helped UTRGV go up 23-22. Two serves later, on set point, another Silva kill ended the set.
 
CSU scored the first four points of the fourth set before a Silva kill sparked a 7-2 run to give UTRGV the lead. UTRGV pushed its lead to 11-7 on an error and 17-12 on a Knudsen kill. CSU got as close as 15-18 before a Knudsen kill helped UTRGV score three-straight points to push the set out of reach.

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