RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team earned a 3-0 (25-13, 25-23, 25-18) sweep over the McNeese Cowgirls Thursday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse in front of 2,627 fans on School Day presented by Whataburger – the second-largest crowd in volleyball program history.
This is the second crowd of 2,500-plus for UTRGV this season after the home opener against Texas Tech set a program record with 2,771 fans. It's the fourth crowd of 2,000+ in program history.
UTRGV (11-8, 7-2 Southland Conference) was led offensively by senior outside hitter
Claudia Lupescu, who had 17 kills on .455 hitting with eight digs and two aces. Sophomore outside hitter
Nadine Zech and senior outside hitter
Ilana De Assis added 15 kills on .483 hitting and 11 kills on .364 hitting, respectively. Assis earned her seventh double-double with a match-high 17 digs. Sophomore setter
Isabella Costantini ran an efficient offense that saw the Vaqueros hit .363 on the match – their best clip of the season. Costantini had 41 assists, eight digs and two aces.
McNeese (7-14, 3-6 SLC) saw
McKenzie Moore record a team-high 13 kills with seven digs. Libero
Bailey Tillman had 14 digs.
From the first serve, the UTRGV Fieldhouse was electric. The crowd sent chants of "UTRGV" ringing through the gym, and the Vaqueros used the energy to fuel them to a dominating set win. They went on a 4-0 run early and quickly extended the lead to 12-4 with sharp defense and an efficient offense.
Costantini orchestrated a balanced attack, using her pins across the net and setting up big strings from the back row to double up the Cowgirls at 20-10. Lupescu dropped an ace to build the advantage to one dozen points and Zech's seventh kill of the set sealed the 25-13 win. The Vaqueros hit .630 in the frame.
McNeese responded well and started strong in the second set, but the Vaqueros strung together three 3-0 runs to open up a 13-8 lead. The Cowgirls came back with a big push sparked by
Megan Grose to jump on top, 17-16. The teams swapped points late in the tight frame, finding themselves knotted at 19-19 and 23-23. An ace from Costantini and back-to-back blocks for UTRGV, which had four in the set, aided a 4-0 run for the Vaqueros to close the set and take the 25-23 comeback win.
The third set saw both teams go through slow stretches, first with errors from McNeese allowing UTRGV to take a commanding 18-10 lead after an ace from junior Sharyland Pioneer alum
Natalie Reyes. The Vaqueros extended the advantage to nine points before the Cowgirls went on a 6-0 run aided by four consecutive attack errors for UTRGV. Senior right side
Perris Key stepped up late to push the Vaqueros to victory, notching a kill and serving an ace on match point to close it out, 25-18.
The Vaqueros will be back in action at the UTRGV Fieldhouse at 2 p.m. Saturday against Nicholls. Visit
UTRGVTickets.com to purchase tickets for Vaqueros volleyball matches. UTRGV Athletics has a
clear bag policy which will be enforced for spectators attending all athletic events hosted by UTRGV.
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