HOUSTON – For the second consecutive match, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team traveled to an unbeaten Southland Conference (SLC) opponent's house and handed them their first loss of the conference slate. Saturday's 3-1 (23-25, 25-20, 25-23, 25-18) win over the Houston Christian University (HCU) Huskies at Sharp Gym extended UTRGV's winning streak to four matches.
Junior outside hitter
Nadine Zech paced the UTRGV (10-7, 5-1 SLC) offense again, recording a career-high 21 kills on .333 hitting with 13 digs and one ace for her fourth double-double and third in a row. Senior right side
Valentina Sarti Cipriani added 15 kills on .406 hitting and freshman outside hitter
Dimitra Nanou finished with 12 kills and a match-high 16 digs for her fourth double-double. Junior setter
Isabella Costantini tallied 47 assists, seven digs, five kills and two aces. Junior libero
Celianiz Cabranes had 14 digs, two aces and two assists.
Allana Archie and
Joya Euhus led HCU (10-9, 5-1 SLC) with 15 kills each.
Peyton Fadal had 45 assists, 10 digs and two aces.
Anna Melgren and
Bianca Byerly tabbed 12 digs each.
Set 1 was a back-and-forth affair that saw both teams go on scoring runs, leading to 10 ties and seven lead changes as they raced to 25. The Vaqueros started strong, opening up a 5-0 lead behind the tough serving of Costantini. The setter tabbed an ace and had the Huskies scrambling early. But HCU settled in and used a 6-0 run of its own to take an 8-6 lead behind the middle blocker's big swing.
Zech sparked UTRGV back to a 19-16 lead, but the Huskies answered right back with an efficient attack that had the Vaqueros on their heels. Nanou tooled the block and served an ace to put the Vaqueros up 22-20 late, but a 3-0 run to close the set gave the Huskies the match lead after a tight 25-23 frame.
The second set started similarly, with the teams swapping scores and treating fans to exciting rallies and loud kills. Costantini moved the ball around well offensively and UTRGV found first separation, up 12-6, as the Vaqueros were sharp on the attack and kept the Huskies scrambling. After the Vaqueros didn't record any blocks in the first set, junior middle blocker
Aaliyah Snead tabbed back-to-back stops to keep UTRGV rolling.
The Vaqueros were first to 20 and up by five after a long rally filled with great defensive plays by both teams was capped by a smart second-touch kill by Costantini. HCU got within 23-20 late in the set to force a timeout, but the Huskies committed consecutive errors to help UTRGV take the set, 25-20, and knot the match at 1-1.
The teams continued to put together small runs and respond to their opponents in an up-tempo third set. Back row defenses were on fire, getting under hard swings and passing well, allowing the offenses to fire at each other consistently. The Huskies had the slim lead at the media break, but the Vaqueros scored three in a row with an ace from Costantini to reclaim the lead. Cipriani was massive for UTRGV down the stretch, recording five kills in the third set including two in the last five points to help a 25-23 set win for the 2-1 match lead.
UTRGV came out in the fourth determined to make a statement. Snead recorded two early kills as the Vaqueros quickly went up 5-1, then the lead grew to 15-6 as they served tough and passed well to keep the offense firing on all cylinders. The young Huskies, however, did not go down quietly. HCU scored four in a row with good service pressure, forcing the Vaqueros to call timeout.
The Vaqueros regrouped and closed the match well, answering every time the Huskies tried to string points together. Snead's fourth kill of the fourth set secured the win, 25-18.
The Vaqueros return to the UTRGV Fieldhouse for their next match, a 6:30 p.m. first serve on Thursday against Southeastern. Fans can purchase tickets at
UTRGVTickets.com. Students get in free with a valid student ID but will need to claim a ticket at
GoUTRGV.com/StudentTickets. A
clear bag policy is in place for all UTRGV Athletics venues.
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