HAMMOND, La. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) #4 Vaqueros volleyball team dropped its Southland Conference (SLC) Championships quarterfinals match Friday, 3-1 (27-25, 21-25, 27-25, 26-24), to the #5 Incarnate Word (UIW) Cardinals at Southeastern's University Center.
UTRGV (16-11) had three student-athletes reach a double-double in the back-and-forth match. Senior outside hitter
Ilana De Assis recorded a career-high 24 kills with 15 digs. Senior outside hitter
Claudia Lupescu had 22 kills and a career-high 19 digs. Sophomore outside hitter
Nadine Zech added 14 kills and nine digs. Sophomore setter
Isabella Costantini dished out 59 assists and had 14 digs while serving three aces to bring her season total to 44, entering the program record books for 10
th-most in a single season. Sophomore libero
Celianiz Cabranes had a match-high 25 digs.
UIW (17-10) was led by
Calissa Allison's 20 kills. Allison also had 14 digs and 19 assists.
Kade Thomas added 11 kills on .647 hitting with five blocks.
Anuhea Faitau had 29 assists and nine digs.
Finley Evans led the Cardinals with 16 digs.
The Cardinals took a tough first set, 27-25, despite good fight from the Vaqueros late to snag their first set off UTRGV this season. UTRGV was held to .171 hitting in the frame, though UIW still hit at a lower clip. The Cardinals led by as many as five points before the Vaqueros showed their resilience and battled back, heavily behind the big arm of Lupescu who notched eight kills in the set, including four in a row to tie at 23-23. UTRGV got to set point after a kill by Assis, but UIW closed with a 3-0 run to take the 1-0 lead.
Set 2 was extremely competitive as both teams cleaned up their offensive efficiency and put down consistent hard kills. Assis and Lupescu paced UTRGV's offense, recording nine and five kills, respectively. Assis showed a lot of intelligence with her attacks, mixing up speeds and locations to produce. Cabranes and Co. improved the ball control to help UTRGV hit .348 and hold off a late Cardinals push. The Vaqueros won the set, 25-21, on a block by Lupescu.
The teams continued going toe-to-toe in the third set. The Cardinals held the advantage early, but Costantini and senior RS/MB
Perris Key served aces to aid a 5-1 run and knot things up at 11-11. Junior Sharyland Pioneer alum
Natalie Reyes kept the tough serving going and UTRGV looked like it had all the momentum as it opened a 19-15 lead. But UIW responded with a late 5-0 run and again closed strong with three consecutive points to fight off a UTRGV set point and win the frame, 27-25, to go up 2-1 in the match.
Set 4 started with a scary moment for UTRGV as Costantini, the SLC Setter and Newcomer of the Year, collided with a teammate and immediately went to the ground, causing the officials to stop the rally. The Vaqueros looked out of sorts as the Cardinals used a 4-0 run to go up, 12-8.
Zech sparked UTRGV with strong swings and a couple of blocks, one combined with Key, to get a 17-16 lead. The teams swapped 3-0 runs and the Vaqueros again found themselves leading, 21-20, and a sharp kill from Assis got them to set point. The Cardinals went on another 3-0 run to secure the match win, 26-24 in the fourth.
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