THIBODAUX, La. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team extended its winning streak to eight matches as it swept the Nicholls Colonels, 3-0 (25-17, 25-14, 25-19) Saturday at Stopher Gymnasium in a Southland Conference (SLC) match.
Redshirt sophomore middle blocker and Harlingen High alum
Julianna Bryant had 12 kills on .647 hitting with two blocks to lead UTRGV (14-7, 9-1 SLC). Sophomore outside hitter
Martina Franco and senior right side
Valentina Sarti Cipriani had nine kills each on .421 and .500 hitting, respectively. Junior setter
Isabella Costantini dished out 35 assists and had UTRGV hitting .463 in the match as she mixed her hitters well. She also had three blocks and two aces. Junior libero
Celianiz Cabranes had a match-high 14 digs with three assists. Junior middle blocker
Aaliyah Snead led UTRGV with four blocks and had two digs to help a defense that held Nicholls to .185 hitting.
Tamara Chavez paced Nicholls (11-12, 1-9 SLC) with 17 kills while
Melanie Guevara added seven.
Isabella Padilla had 29 assists while
Karina Smith and
Tierney Terrell had six digs each.
Set 1 went back-and-forth early. The Vaqueros were sharp on the attack, led by eight first-set kills from Bryant. Franco's serve sparked a scoring run as the sophomore tabbed an ace and the Vaqueros scored six in a row, with Bryant recording three kills and a block in the stretch for the 12-6 lead. Nicholls trimmed the deficit down to three, but the Vaqueros continued to score efficiently and opened things up late. Freshman outside hitter
Dimitra Nanou was the go-to arm down the stretch, then Snead tabbed a solo block and Costantini served an ace to take the set, 25-17.
The teams swapped scoring runs to open Set 2, with the Vaqueros holding leads of 3-0 and 6-3 before the Colonels scored five in a row to jump on top, 8-6. Fitting the theme, UTRGV answered with a 4-0 run to get back in the lead as Costantini used her full arsenal of hitters. The Vaqueros turned up the block to force a series of Nicholls errors, quickly growing the advantage to 18-12. Cipriani carried the Vaqueros to a big finish with three late kills and a combined block with Snead as UTRGV went on to take the set, 25-14.
Junior outside hitter
Nadine Zech got the Vaqueros going early in Set 3. She served back-to-back aces and put down six kills in the set, helping UTRGV take a 13-9 lead following an ace from Costantini. The teams exchanged scores with the Vaqueros holding a consistent four-point lead until they closed strong once again. Senior Sharyland Pioneer alum
Natalie Reyes served an ace to make the score 20-14. Costantini mixed up the offense well to keep the Colonels off-balance late in the match and Franco secured the win with a kill to take the third, 25-19.
The Vaqueros will be back in action at the UTRGV Fieldhouse Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in a South Texas Showdown match, presented by Rally Credit Union, against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. 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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