MISSOULA, Mont. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team put up an admirable fight in a 3-1 (25-22, 25-21, 18-25, 25-16) loss to the No. 17 BYU Cougars (2-0) Saturday at Dahlberg Arena as part of the Ellesyn Invitational.
The match featured 22 ties as UTRGV (1-1) went toe-to-toe with the perennial power behind its relentless defense. Junior libero
Kiaraliz Perez recorded a match-high 13 digs and had six assists as she covered the court. Senior middle blocker
Luisa Silva Dos Santos had a match-high five blocks and led the Vaqueros with 13 kills on .812 hitting in a dynamic performance.
Junior outside hitter
Ilana De Assis and freshman outside hitter
Nadine Zech, making her UTRGV debut, had 10 kills each while Assis added seven digs and Zech tallied four aces. Junior right side
Perris Key added nine kills, six digs and four blocks. Junior setter
Luanna Emiliano gave the Vaqueros plenty of offensive variety as she dished out 37 assists and had two aces, five digs and one block.
The match was a back-and-forth affair from the start, with the Vaqueros trailing by one or tied throughout the first half of the first set. BYU took advantage of some unforced errors to go up 11-8.
UTRGV's defense was tenacious, diving for stray balls and getting under everything to stay tight with the Cougars. Santos had a strong presence on the net, moving around to get her hands on hits and helps get back within one. A late run by BYU forced a timeout with UTRGV trailing 18-13, and the Vaqueros came out of the break hot. Zech recorded her first career kill and added an ace to get within 20-19. The BYU block showed up down the stretch to take the first, 25-22.
The Vaqueros took their first lead of the match at 3-2 in the second set after Zech tooled the block, junior middle blocker
Margherita Giani slammed one down in the middle and Key put one away from the right side. Key turned in an impressive effort to tie the contest at 12-12, then Zech's fourth ace of the match knotted it up again at 14-14 as the battling squads continued to swap scoring plays.
Zech and Assis showed off their powerful swings from the outside to push the Cougars in the second, but BYU took the 2-0 lead after winning the frame 25-21.
Emiliano did an incredible job taking advantage of the scrappy defense to spread the ball, and the variety in the attack put BYU on their heels in the third set. After going down 12-8, the Vaqueros used an 11-2 run to take the 19-14 lead. The lethal duo of Santos and Key sparked the run. Santos dominated down the stretch, scoring the final five points two pairs of back-to-back kills to make it 2-1 as UTRGV took the third set, 25-18.
BYU came out strong to start the fourth, and with help from a long challenge ruled in their favor, the Cougars opened up a 6-2 lead. Giani ended the run and with the rotation turning over to put Santos back on the court, UTRGV was able to get within one, trailing 9-8.
Perez and the Vaqueros defense continued to make the Cougars work for every point throughout the match. They dug well and dove for everything to extend rallies. Despite the full team effort, BYU took control in the back end of the fourth set to secure the 3-1 victory, 25-16.
UTRGV wraps up competition at the Ellesyn Invitational Sunday at 11 a.m. against No. 5 Pitt. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
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