ARLINGTON – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team, the defending Western Athletic Conference (WAC) champions, opened WAC play with a 3-1 (25-16, 25-23, 18-25, 25-23) victory over the UT Arlington Mavericks on Thursday at College Park Center.
Junior
Perris Key led the Vaqueros (7-7, 1-0 WAC) with 15 kills on .333 hitting, nine digs, three blocks and one ace. Junior
Luanna Emiliano dished out 41 assists with 16 digs, a season-high tying four aces, four kills and one block for her eighth double-double. Juniors
Margherita Giani and
Ilana De Assis and freshman
Nadine Zech all finished with eight kills. Assis added seven digs, two assists, an ace, and a block. Junior
Kiaraliz Perez posted 16 digs and four assists.
Brianna Ford led the Mavericks (11-3, 0-1 WAC) with 15 kills, four digs and four blocks.
Paige Reagor and
Sophie Ocampo each finished with 10 kills and six digs. Reagor added six blocks.
A pair of kills by senior
Luisa Silva Dos Santos helped the Vaqueros score the first five points of the match. Then, with the score 6-2, the Vaqueros used a 6-0 run, capped by a Key kill, to go up 12-2 and cruise to a first set victory.
The Vaqueros went up 6-3 on a pair of Assis kills to open the second set. The Mavericks responded with a 6-1 run to go up 9-7. The Mavericks still led at 15-11 when the Vaqueros won five-straight serves, capped by a Giani kill, to regain the lead. The set stayed tight from there, with the Mavericks going up 23-21 before two errors and two Key kills ended the set.
After dropping the third set, Emiliano opened the fourth set with an ace to set the tone, as the Vaqueros served up six aces to clinch the victory. The second ace, by junior
Claudia Lupescu, put the Vaqueros up 5-1. Then, with the lead cut to 7-6, a pair of Giani kills and an Assis ace gave the Vaqueros a 10-6 advantage. The Mavericks pulled to within two before a 5-0 run that included two Emiliano aces put the Vaqueros up 16-9. The Mavericks followed with a 14-6 run to go up 23-22 before a kill and an ace by Emiliano brought the Vaqueros to match point and an attack error closed the match.
The Vaqueros visit Stephen F. Austin on Saturday at 12 p.m. Fans can watch domestically on
ESPN+ or internationally via
WAC International.
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