EL PASO – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team dropped the opener of the UTEP Southwest Showdown 3-1 (25-20, 25-20, 21-25, 25-16) Friday to the UTEP Miners at Memorial Gym.
The Vaqueros (4-5) will be back in action Saturday at 11 a.m. against the Texas State Bobcats.
Senior outside hitter
Claudia Lupescu led UTRGV with 12 kills while sophomore Brownsville Veterans Memorial alum
Elise Fourt had eight kills on .333 hitting from the middle blocker spot. Senior outside hitter
Ingridy Nicoleti Foltran tabbed a season-high seven kills on .312 hitting. Sophomore libero
Celianiz Cabranes had a match-high 23 digs and three aces. Sophomore
Isabella Costantini and freshman
Alessia Couchond split the setting duties and had 22 and 16 assists, respectively.
UTEP (8-2) saw
Ema Uskokovic and
Danika Washington both collect 13 kills, with Washington hitting .647.
Torrance Lovesee and
Kaya Weaver had 11 kills each on .529 hitting and .600 hitting, respectively, as the Miners hit an impressive .384 on the match. Weaver had six blocks.
UTRGV used a 6-2 for the first time this season. The teams swapped scores early and kept the set within two points. Senior outside hitter
Ingridy Foltran tooled the block to even things up at 11-11, but a 3-0 run gave the Miners the edge at the media break, up 15-13. Senior
Perris Key and Fourt upped their production from the middle late in the frame, helping the Vaqueros erase a deficit and get within 19-18 of the lead. But UTEP was in control in the homestretch and hit .412 in the set to win it, 25-20.
The Miners used an early 4-0 run backed by a pair of aces to quickly take control of the second set. UTRGV gave opportunities to some role players and they delivered in the frame. Foltran paced the Vaqueros with four kills in the set and sophomore
Giovana Ribeiro made her season debut, tallying one kill and one block. UTRGV took advantage of the 6-2 system and saw production from a number of pieces, but the Miners continued to play clean ball and hit at a high efficiency to take the frame, 25-20.
UTRGV showed its fight and solid serving to take the third set, 25-21. The Vaqueros jumped on top quickly with a 5-0 lead as Costantini applied pressure from the service line. Cabranes tallied three aces in a row as she helped a run to put the Vaqueros up 10-5. She was active defensively too, covering the court well and selling out to keep rallies alive to help the comeback effort.
Another big service run from Key put UTRGV up 16-11. The teams swapped scores down the stretch and the Miners got within two, but with hard swings from Assis and gritty defense, the Vaqueros held strong and made it 2-1 in the match.
UTEP was sound to take a 25-16 win in the fourth to secure the match. UTRGV continued to show great energy and play tough despite being behind the whole frame. Head coach
Todd Lowery had two successful challenges and the Vaqueros were relentless on defense to keep rallies long and competitive. Costantini delivered a one-handed assist slammed down by Fourt up the middle as UTRGV gathered some heat late, but the Miners held on.
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