CLEVELAND, Ohio – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team dropped a 3-2 (20-25, 25-14, 25-20, 23-25, 15-12) battle Friday to the Cleveland State (CSU) Vikings at Woodling Gymnasium in their second match of the day in the Zips/CSU Invitational.
The Vaqueros (3-2) had three student-athletes notch double-doubles. Senior outside hitter
Ilana De Assis paced UTRGV's offense again, tallying career highs with 21 kills and 19 digs. Senior outside hitter
Claudia Lupescu had a season-high 14 kills with 12 digs and two aces. Sophomore outside hitter
Nadine Zech added 12 kills and 12 digs. Senior right side
Perris Key and sophomore middle blocker and Harlingen High alum
Julianna Bryant each had seven kills. Sophomore setter
Alessia Couchond had a strong match, dishing out a career-high 33 assists with a career-high six digs in four sets.
Cleveland State (4-1) was led by
Liberty Torres who tabbed 20 kills on .360 hitting with three blocks.
Ella Mihacevich had 43 aces, nine kills, seven digs and four aces.
Emma Walker tallied 23 digs and seven assists.
The match started with a tight first set. Assis and Zech paced the Vaqueros offense, accounting for 12 kills and sparking the momentum that helped put UTRGV up 21-17. After a timeout, the Vikings pushed late, but UTRGV closed the frame on a 3-0 run as Zech sealed the 25-20 set win. Sophomore setter
Isabella Costantini had the attack working efficiently, earning a .306 hitting percentage while the Vaqueros defense held CSU to hittin .100.
Cleveland State evened things up by taking the second set, 25-14. The Vikings offense rallied and hit .393 in the frame, using a balanced attack to take control. Assis continued to put points away for UTRGV, but the Vaqueros were held to .038 hitting and struggled to find a rhythm. Lupescu recorded back-to-back aces late in the set, but the Vikings closed strong.
The Vikings leaned on their block to take a 2-1 lead in the match. They tallied six blocks in the third set and forced UTRGV's hitters to commit some errors, aiding a 17-9 lead midway through the frame. Lupescu paced the Vaqueros attack with six kills in the set and Couchond stepped into the setter role, bringing some variety to the offense as Assis and Bryant also contributed late to trim the deficit to 22-17. UTRGV fought off two set points, but Cleveland State held on to take the frame, 25-20.
Couchond settled in nicely and used a variety of weapons to push UTRGV to a gritty 25-23 set win, evening the match at 2-2. She got the middles swinging and had good timing with the pins, and the Vaqueros hit an impressive .436 in the frame. The improved offense effort helped spark the Vaqueros defense, too, as they tabbed three blocks in the set while keeping the Vikings from getting any after a strong blocking performance in the third.
UTRGV opened up a 15-11 lead before the Vikings found a rhythm and evened things up at 16-16. The squads swapped points until Key notched back-to-back service aces to create some separation, and UTRGV closed the frame strong to win it 25-23.
The fifth set saw momentum swings similar to the rest of the match. Service pressure and blocks helped Cleveland State take an 8-3 lead, but Key, Assis and Bryant were strong to cut the deficit to 8-7 and force the Vikings to call two quick timeouts. Lupescu tabbed back-to-back kills late and Key fought off one set point, but the Vikings secured the victory with a 15-12 set win.
UTRGV will wrap up its run at the Zips/CSU Invitational Saturday at 11 a.m. at Akron.
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