ABILENE – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team earned its sixth Western Athletic Conference (WAC) sweep Thursday with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 26-24) victory over the Abilene Christian (ACU) Wildcats at the Moody Coliseum.
Late in the first set, UTRGV (13-9, 7-2 WAC) junior setter
Luanna Emiliano recorded career dig No. 1,000 with her second dig of the match. She became only the ninth active player to surpass 3,000 career assists and 1,000 career digs and is the fastest of those setters to reach 1,000 digs. She is the only non-fifth year player of the nine to reach both milestones.
Emiliano finished with 36 assists, 12 digs, two blocks and two aces to record her 13
th double-double of the season and move into a tie for No. 10 in program history with 103 career service aces.
Junior outside hitter
Claudia Lupescu and freshman outside hitter
Nadine Zech led the Vaqueros with 13 kills each on .462 hitting and .387 hitting, respectively. Lupescu added six digs and one ace, and Zech had a career high tying three blocks, with two solo blocks. Junior right side
Perris Key recorded eight kills, eight digs and four blocks. Junior libero
Kiaraliz Perez and freshman defensive specialist
Isa Bento tallied 18 and 10 digs, respectively, to anchor a scrappy defensive effort.
Abilene Christian (10-11, 5-4 WAC) was paced by
Braden Bossier's nine kills and three blocks.
Andie Sheppard and
Sara Carrizales had 11 digs each and
Madeline Guffy dished out 33 assists.
Emiliano opened the first set with an ace as UTRGV took an early lead. Efficient hitting and good defense helped the Vaqueros open their advantage, and after a sharp-angled kill by Key and a block by senior middle blocker
Luisa Silva Dos Santos, UTRGV was on top, 20-14.
The Wildcats continued to fight, but the Vaqueros used a 3-0 run with kills from Emiliano, Santos and Key to reach set point. An ACU blocking error clinched the frame, 25-17.
UTRGV continued to roll as the second set got underway. The Vaqueros went on scoring runs of six and five points behind great play from Zech, with hard swings and blocks, and consistent production by Key and Lupescu. After a combined block from Emiliano and junior middle blocker
Margherita Giani, the Vaqueros led 16-7 and forced a Wildcat timeout.
Abilene Christian scored four unanswered out of the break, then the two teams swapped kills until the Wildcats sparked a 5-0 run to trim the deficit to 20-18 with help from UTRGV attack errors. An ace from Santos, a pair of kills by Zech and a big swing from Lupescu slowed ACU down and secured the second set, 25-22.
The third frame was more evenly matched, with the teams swapping big plays and momentum early. Emiliano again started the set with an ace, entering her into the top 10 in program history in yet another career category.
The Wildcats took their first lead at 10-9, but the Vaqueros came right back with a 4-0 run backed by Key and Santos. Gritty defense was on display by both squads as rallies got long and competitive, with the teams exchanging punches.
Zech recorded a solo block and a booming kill to tie the frame at 17-17, but the Wildcats were the first to 20 points, and after a review went in their favor, the Wildcats extended their advantage to 22-18 – their largest of the match.
Lupescu hammered a cross-court kill from the right side to get UTRGV on a roll, then a kill from Key tied the set at 23-23.
Ashli Edmiston recorded a kill to get Abilene Christian to set point, but the determined Vaqueros didn't give up.
Santos and Key absolutely stuffed a swing from the outside pin, then an attack error made it match point for UTRGV. Zech smartly tooled the block for the final kill of the night, earning the sweep with a 26-24 third set win.
UTRGV's next match is Saturday at 1 p.m. at Tarleton State.
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