RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team earned a 3-1 (25-21, 25-13, 13-25, 25-13) victory in the regular season finale Saturday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse in a Western Athletic Conference (WAC) match against the Abilene Christian (ACU) Wildcats.
Freshman outside hitter
Nadine Zech led UTRGV (18-11, 12-4 WAC) with 15 kill and had seven digs. Junior outside hitter
Claudia Lupescu tabbed 12 kills and 10 digs for her second double-double, also recording five blocks and two aces. The middle blocker duo of senior
Luisa Silva Dos Santos and junior
Margherita Giani had nine and seven kills on .571 and .467 hitting, respectively, with five blocks each. Santos also recorded a season-high three aces. Junior right side
Perris Key had eight kills, 11 digs and four blocks. Junior setter
Luanna Emiliano tabbed her 18
th double-double with 37 assists, 10 digs, three kills, two aces and two blocks. Junior libero
Kiaraliz Perez had 22 digs.
ACU (15-14, 6-9 WAC) was paced by
Breanna Box's 14 kills and five blocks.
Bryley Steinhilber added nine kills and 12 digs.
Madeline Guffy dished out 33 assists and
Sara Carrizales had 16 digs.
The first set was competitive with both teams playing solid defense. Key, getting back in the lineup after missing three matches, was active early and putting down sharp kills as the teams swapped points early. After a challenge went ACU's way, the Wildcats took their first lead at 6-5, then UTRGV responded with a 4-1 run with three-straight points from Lupescu to go up 10-8.
The Vaqueros extended their lead to 15-10 as Zech made some great diving digs in a tough rally capped by Key dropping a hard kill on the back line. The Wildcats scored four in a row to get momentum late, and the teams went back to exchanging blows to a 21-21 tie. UTRGV scored the final four points to take the opening set, 25-21, with back-to-back kills by Zech and then back-to-back aces from Santos.
UTRGV dominated the second set, taking the frame 25-13 to go up 2-0 in the match. The Vaqueros used tremendous defense to throw the Wildcats off their game, tallying five blocks to hold ACU to a .073 hitting percentage. All of UTRGV's pins got hot in the set, allowing for great variety in the attack. The Vaqueros hit .441 with plenty of big swings from Zech and a lot of production from the middles. Perez covered the court well and the relentless defensive effort left ACU scrambling.
The Wildcats came out strong to start the third set, taking a 9-3 lead. Their swings were sharp and the serving was tough to cause problems with UTRGV's first touch and passing. Abilene Christian found a good groove to open up a nine-point lead midway through the frame. As UTRGV's passing continued to struggle, the Wildcats put down kills at an impressive rate to win the set, 25-13.
The Vaqueros made a lineup change heading into the fourth set, putting freshman
Isa Bento in the libero spot. UTRGV quickly shook off the third set woes, using an early scoring run to go up 7-1 with a pair of blocks, an ace from Lupescu and good hitting.
UTRGV's passing improved tremendously, leading to the Vaqueros swinging hard and effectively to dominate the final frame. ACU went on a late 3-0 run when UTRGV reached set point, but a kill by Zech secured the win, 25-13.
Up next for the Vaqueros is the WAC Tournament, which runs Thursday through Saturday in Orem, Utah. UTRGV's opponent is to be determined.
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