ST. GEORGE, Utah – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team dropped the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) opener to the Dixie State University Trailblazers 0-3 (18-25, 20-25, 18-25) on Monday at Burns Arena.
 
Junior Sarah Cruz led the Vaqueros (0-3, 0-1 WAC) with eight kills and six digs. Senior Veronika Jandova recorded seven kills with three blocks.
 
Megan Treanor led the Trailblazers (2-2, 1-2 WAC) with 16 kills, 13 assists, five digs and two aces.
 
The Vaqueros jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first set. The Trailblazers responded with a 9-1 run to take a 9-4 lead. The two teams traded points over the next 10 serves before the Trailblazers won three-straight to go up 16-9. The Vaqueros scored back-to-back points twice more as part of a 6-3 run to pull within 15-19, but that's as close as they got.
 
The Vaqueros took the early lead in set two as well, going up 5-4 on a kill by senior Samaret Caraballo and 6-5 on a Jandova kill. Then, down 7-8, Cruz and Caraballo came up with back-to-back kills to again put the Vaqueros on top. The Vaqueros still led at 11-10 on a kill by freshman Ada Bulgur, but the Trailblazers scored the next seven points. Down 12-18, the Vaqueros mounted a 7-2 run to pull to within 19-20, but the Trailblazers won the next four serves to put the set away.
 
The Vaqueros led 3-2 out of the gate in set three and were also even at 5-5, 6-6 and 7-7 before taking a 9-8 on a Bulgur kill. The Vaqueros still led at 10-9 before the Trailblazers went on a 12-4 run to take the lead for good.
 
UTRGV and Dixie State complete the series on Tuesday at 1 p.m. Fans can watch for free online at WACDigitalNetwork.com.

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