NATCHITOCHES, La. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team earned its third consecutive Southland Conference (SLC) victory Thursday with a 3-1 (25-19, 20-25, 25-21, 25-17) road win over the Northwestern State (NSU) Demons at Prather Coliseum.
UTRGV (9-8, 5-2 SLC) outhit the Demons 65-41 as the offense got hot when it mattered to push the team to victory. The big three of senior outside hitter
Claudia Lupescu, sophomore outside hitter
Nadine Zech and senior outside hitter
Ilana De Assis all reached double-digit kills with 21, 18 and 15, respectively. Lupescu notched a .326 hitting percentage and had eight digs and two blocks. Sophomore setter
Isabella Costantini recorded her sixth double-double after finishing with 51 assists and a career-high 15 digs. Sophomore libero
Celianiz Cabranes had a match-high 23 digs with four assists.
Northwestern State (6-9, 1-5 SLC) was led offensively by
Reaghan Thompson's 14 kills, and Thompson had a double-double with 10 digs.
Deja Benjamin added nine kills on .421 hitting with eight blocks.
Gabby Seeds dished out 35 assists and
Teresa Garza paced the defense with 12 digs.
The opening set made it clear that Thursday's matchup was going to be a tight, back-and-forth contest. UTRGV got off to a slow start that helped the Demons go up 10-6, forcing an early timeout as they put kills away at a high rate. The Vaqueros settled in and got on a roll, using a 4-0 run to even things up after a block from Zech and sophomore Brownsville Veterans Memorial alum
Elise Fourt.
Zech was on fire in the first set, delivering seven kills and sparking the Vaqueros offense. After an ace from Lupescu and another 4-0 run put UTRGV up by four, NSU called a timeout to regroup, but Assis drilled a kill to the deep corner to close the set, 25-19. Both teams hit .286 in the frame as they went blow for blow.
In the second set, it was UTRGV's turn to get some early momentum. But the big block of the Demons showed up in the set, and their six blocks slowed down the Vaqueros offensively. The set stayed tight, separated by only two points for most of the contest, but some errors committed by UTRGV allowed NSU to go on a 6-1 run late and even the match with a 25-20 set win.
The third set was arguably the closest of the match. Northwestern State quickly went on a 5-0 run to force a timeout, and out of the break, UTRGV's senior captains in Lupescu and
Perris Key provided a spark with tough serving and big attacks to get the team within one. Behind Costantini's effective serving and back-to-back kills from Zech, the Vaqueros flipped the set from down two to up 23-19 and held on to win the frame, 25-21. UTRGV was incredibly efficient in the frame, hitting .371 while holding NSU to .182 as the Vaqueros played scrappy defense and passed well.
UTRGV rode the wave from the gritty third-set win to dominate the fourth. Cabranes and Co. covered the court with ease, getting under the hard swings from the Demons to allow Costantini to use a variety of offensive weapons. Key had three kills in the fourth set and finished with six, while Lupescu contributed six and Zech had five. The Vaqueros took control midway through the set and never looked back, leading by as many as seven before clinching the win, 25-17. UTRGV hit .344 in the final frame despite NSU notching four blocks.
The Vaqueros will be back in action Saturday at Texas A&M-Commerce.
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