HOUSTON – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team made quick work of the Penn Quakers Friday at Sharp Gym, earning a 3-0 (25-13, 25-16, 25-18) victory and showcasing the depth on the roster to open the Molly Howard-Gerwig Memorial Tournament.
UTRGV (2-2) had 10 Vaqueros record at least one kill and saw three student-athletes make their season debuts. Freshmen
Roslyn Guerra and Harlingen High alum
Julianna Bryant saw their first collegiate action, with Guerra recording one kill and one ace and Bryant assisting on a block.
Junior right side
Perris Key led the Vaqueros with eight kills on .462 hitting and had six digs, two aces and 2.5 total blocks. Senior middle blocker
Luisa Silva Dos Santos tallied seven kills on .600 hitting with three total blocks. Junior setter
Luanna Emiliano had 26 assists and five digs, and junior libero
Kiaraliz Perez notched 12 digs, three assists, two aces and her first kill of the season.
The Vaqueros used some errors from Penn and four quick kills from freshman outside hitter
Nadine Zech to quickly take control of the match in the opening frame. The Quakers were held to a -.083 hitting percentage in the first set while UTRGV hit .400 and had five blocks to Penn's zero to handily take the first set, 25-13.
The second set saw UTRGV use an early 5-0 run to force Penn to call a timeout trailing 8-2. UTRGV was tough at the service line, notching three aces in the frame, and Emiliano did a good job of running an efficient offense with a lot of variety. Santos, junior outside hitter
Ilana De Assis and Key were particularly productive to spark the 25-16 set win.
Penn found a bit of rhythm late in the second set, stringing together four unanswered points after falling behind 20-7 following Bryant's first career block, assisted by Key. The Quakers brought that fight out in the third set, getting within five points of the lead multiple times. Junior outside hitter
Claudia Lupescu had some good swings to keep Penn at a distance, and Guerra saw her first court time late in the match and contributed a kill and an ace to extend UTRGV's lead back to eight. An error committed by Penn secured the sweep.
UTRGV passed well throughout the match and was especially aggressive at the service line, tallying eight aces. The pin hitters were solid setting the block to aid a season-high 11 total blocks in the match. UTRGV also tabbed a season-high .412 team hitting percentage in the victory while holding Penn to a .039 clip.
UTRGV wraps up the tournament Saturday with a 10 a.m. match against the hosting Houston Christian Huskies and a 3 p.m. match against Prairie View A&M.
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