NACOGDOCHES – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team fell to the Stephen F. Austin 'Jacks 1-3 (16-25, 31-29, 16-25, 21-25) on Saturday at Shelton Gym.
 
The 31-29 score in the second set marks the highest-scoring set in program history.
 
Freshman Ingridy Foltran led the Vaqueros (14-9, 5-4 WAC) with a career-high 16 kills and a career-high nine digs. Sophomore Ioanna Charitonidi recorded 11 kills and nine digs. Freshman Luanna Emiliano posted her 18^th double-double with 37 assists, 14 digs, two aces and four blocks.
 
Payton Cerny led the 'Jacks (16-6, 7-3 WAC) with 13 kills and nine blocks. Valeria Rosado posted 12 kills and five digs. Kelsey Harrington recorded 11 kills and 11 blocks. Leah Powell recorded 11 kills, 14 digs and five blocks.
 
After dropping the first set, the Vaqueros fell behind 1-4 in the second set. That's when the Vaqueros went on a 7-2 run to take an 8-6 lead. The 'Jacks came back to take the lead at 11-10 and 12-11, but the Vaqueros responded with kills by Foltran and freshman Ada Bulgur, respectively, to tie the score. The 'Jacks scored the next five points to take a 17-12 lead. Then, with the deficit 16-20, a Foltran kill sparked a 6-1 run to put the Vaqueros up 22-21. Four serves later, the 'Jacks reached set point at 24-23. Charitonidi answered with back-ot-back kills to give the Vaqueros set point. Charitonidi gave the Vaqueros set point again at 26-25, and then came up with a kill to tie the set at 27. The 'Jacks reached set point again at 29-28 before a Foltran kill tied the score, a kill by sophomore Luisa Silva Dos Santos gave the Vaqueros the lead, and a block by Emiliano and freshman Perris Key ended the set.
 
In the fourth set, the Vaqueros jumped out to a 5-1 lead on a Santos kill. The 'Jacks scored the next four points before junior Yasmim da Silva came up with back-to-back kills to put the Vaqueros up 7-5. After the 'Jacks scored three-straight points, Foltran bookended a 4-1 run with kills to put the Vaqueros up 11-9. Two serves later, Foltran came up with back-to-back kills to make the score 13-11. Later, with the Vaqueros up 16-14, the 'Jacks went on a 4-1 run to take an 18-17 lead. Two serves after that, an attack error and a Foltran kill made the score 20-19, but the 'Jacks scored the next five points to reach set point and put the set away.
 
UTRGV is back in action on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at UTEP.

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