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LOGAN, Utah – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) volleyball team opened the Utah State Tournament with a 3-0 (25-23,25-19,25-20) victory over Utah State on Friday at Kirby Court at the Wayne Estes Center.
 
Senior Ragni Steen Knudsen led the way for UTRGV (4-1) with a match-high 16 kills while adding seven digs. Knudsen moved into ninth place all-time in program history with 925 career kills passing Cathi Netemeyer.
 
Junior Barbara Silva added 11 kills with nine digs and four blocks. Senior Gyzell Zayas led the way with 17 digs while senior Dubravka Vujoja paced the offense with 24 assists. 
 
Izzie Hinton-Belnap led the way for Utah State with 10 kills while Kassidy Johnson recorded a match-high 37 assists. Tasia Taylor led Utah State with 16 digs on defense. 
 
UTRGV (3-1) and Utah State (1-2) played a tight first set. UTRGV had the set's largest lead at 10-6 after an attack error by Utah State but a 6-3 run by Utah State tied the match at 12-12. Both teams went back and forth but senior Alexandra Ecker recorded back-to-back kills and a Utah State error gave UTRGV the 18-15 lead. 
 
Utah State rattled off three straight points to tie the match at 18-18. Both teams went back and forth again before UTRGV recorded the final two points with senior Antonela Jularic giving UTRGV the 25-23 first set victory. It was the first time that Utah State dropped the first set this season. 
 
In the second set, Utah State jumped out to the 4-2 lead after a kill by Hinton-Belnap but later an attack error by Utah State and a kill by Ecker gave UTRGV the lead at 7-6. It would be a lead that UTRGV would not give back as a kill by Silva pushed its lead to 15-11. Jularic put the set away with a kill as UTRGV took the set 25-19. 
 
Utah State jumped out to the quick 4-1 lead in the third set after a UTRGV error but UTRGV answered with a 3-0 run to tie the set. Later, Utah State held a 14-11 lead before UTRGV went on an 8-4 run to take the lead for good taking the set 25-20.
 
UTRGV will be back in action later this evening when it faces No. 24 Cal Poly, as part of the Utah State Tournament, at 6:30 p.m.

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