RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team earned its sixth consecutive win Saturday with a dominant 3-0 sweep, 25-14, 25-12, 25-7, over the Nicholls Colonels in a Southland Conference (SLC) match at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
UTRGV (12-8, 8-2 SLC) improved to 8-1 in October and showed its depth in the match. Eight different Vaqueros had at least one kill as they hit .450 as a team, recording twice as many kills as Nicholls (43-18). Sophomore outside hitter
Nadine Zech had a match-high 11 kills on .524 hitting – committing zero errors – with nine digs. Senior outside hitter
Claudia Lupescu added 10 kills on .444 hitting, and senior outside hitter
Ilana De Assis had nine. Sophomore setter
Isabella Costantini had a career-high tying four aces with 29 assists and nine digs. Sophomore libero
Celianiz Cabranes had a match-high 13 digs and two aces.
UTRGV took advantage of a slew of Nicholls errors to handily win the first set, 25-14. The Vaqueros served three aces in the frame, including one on the first serve from Costantini. The Colonels put together one 3-0 run to get within four points after an early cushion was created by the Vaqueros, but the home team settled in midway through the set. Assis ripped back-to-back kills and Cabranes served an ace to double Nicholls up. Nicholls committed seven attack errors and hit .000 as UTRGV controlled things late with good serving and sound offense.
Costantini gave the Vaqueros another 3-0 run to start the second set with her second ace of the match. Costantini and senior right side
Perris Key came up with a block and some point-scoring touches to grow UTRGV's lead to 18-9. Head coach
Todd Lowery used the cushion to turn to the bench, and the Vaqueros showed their depth. Sophomore setter
Alessia Couchond and sophomore outside hitter
Giovana Ribeiro made an immediate impact as Ribeiro tabbed a kill and Couchond combined with Key for a pair of blocks, including a set-clincher at 25-12.
The third set was all Vaqueros as they earned their largest set-win of the season, taking it 25-7. Costantini recorded a career-high tying fourth ace to help an early 5-0 run, then the lead quickly turned to double digits as a variety of hitters scored for UTRGV. Couchond and Ribeiro came on in relief again for the back half of the set and dominated. Ribeiro got hands on a lot of swings at the net and collected three kills. Couchond had a kill on a second-touch dump. Freshman McAllen High alum
Sammi Garcia made her UTRGV debut and recorded a dig as the Vaqueros played scrappy defense to put Nicholls away.
Ribeiro finished with four kills on .667 hitting with one block. Couchond had nine assists, one kill and two blocks.
UTRGV plays its next four matches on the road, starting with a Thursday match at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
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