EDINBURG – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) volleyball team served up a season-high 12 aces to beat Seattle U 3-0 (25-22, 25-16, 25-20) on Saturday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
 
The 12 aces are the highest total for UTRGV (12-6, 3-1 WAC) since serving 12 aces on Oct. 7, 2014 at Texas Southern.
 
Junior Barbara Silva led UTRGV with 12 kills on .346 hitting, a career-high tying 14 digs and a career-high tying four aces for her fifth double-double of the season. Senior Ragni Steen Knudsen posted her seventh double-double with a match-high 13 kills, 11 digs and two aces. Senior Antonela Jularic finished with eight kills, 11 digs and one ace.
 
Eve Kerschenbaum led Seattle U (8-8, 1-2 WAC) with 11 kills on .360 hitting.
 
The first set was tight throughout, with only two leads of more than two at any point. Seattle U went up 17-14 on an attack error. After an error gave the serve back to UTRGV, senior Alexandra Ecker served up an ace and then senior Dubravka Vukoja had two aces as UTRGV went on a 5-1 run to take a 19-18 lead. Seattle U won the next two serves to take the lead before back-to-back Silva kills and a Knudsen ace gave UTRGV the lead for good.
 
The second set was close early, as Seattle U was within 9-13 on a Kerschenbam kill. A kill and two aces by Silva, however, sparked an 8-1 run to push the set out of reach.
 
UTRGV led by as much as three early in the third set, going up 10-7 on a Silva kill. Seattle U answered with a 5-1 run to take a 12-11 lead. UTRGV won four of the next five serves to take a 15-13 lead on a Knudsen kill. UTRGV led the rest of the way, ending the match with an Ecker ace.
 
UTRGV kicks off a three-match road trip on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Chicago State. 

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