COMMERCE, Texas – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team is on top once again.
In just its second year in the Southland Conference (SLC), UTRGV clinched at least a share of the 2025 SLC Championship after sweeping the East Texas A&M Lions 3-0 (25-10, 25-19, 25-17) on Saturday in the regular season finale at The Field House.
The Vaqueros (20-7, 15-1 SLC) can win the title outright and secure the #1 seed for the conference tournament if Stephen F. Austin loses to Lamar in a match still in progress at the time of UTRGV's victory.
This is UTRGV's first conference title since winning the Western Athletic Conference regular season championship in 2022 and its fourth overall. The Vaqueros also secured the fourth 20+ win season in program history by closing the regular season on a program-best 14 match winning streak.
Sophomore outside hitter
Martina Franco led UTRGV's outstanding offense with 14 kills on .375 hitting with 18 digs for her sixth double-double. Freshman outside hitter
Dimitra Nanou had 13 kills on .345 hitting with 16 digs for her seventh double-double. Redshirt sophomore Harlingen High alum
Julianna Bryant finished with 10 kills on .444 hitting with five blocks. Junior setter
Isabella Costantini tallied 45 assists, five digs, four kills and three blocks. Junior libero
Celianiz Cabranes added 12 digs.
Gracie Campbell led East Texas A&M (9-18, 7-9 SLC) with eight kills. Libero
Jade Washington had 12 digs and setter
Haley Mullaney had 19 assists with 10 digs.
UTRGV absolutely dominated the first set, recording 22 kills with zero attack errors while hitting .629 in the frame to win it, 25-10. The Vaqueros were perfect in serve-receive and passed cleanly, allowing Costantini to get all of her attackers involved and force the Lions on their heels. UTRGV scored with sharp shots, well-placed tips and deep shots all over the court.
Set 2 was tight as East Texas A&M found some rhythm on the defensive end, digging well-hit balls from the Vaqueros. After swapping ties and small leads, UTRGV scored three in a row with back-to-back kills from Franco to open an 18-16 lead and force a Lions timeout. Nanou was big down the stretch, recording three kills in the final seven points. UTRGV stopped the Lions with a pair of blocks to take the set, 25-19, as Snead and Cipriani teamed up for one and Franco got a solo block on the right side pin.
UTRGV opened the third set on fire behind Costantini's serve. The setter served three aces in the first four points to aid a 6-0 start. The lead grew to eight points as Cipriani teamed with Snead for a block then roped a kill from the right side. The Lions went on a 5-1 run to get within 12-9 and force a timeout, then the Vaqueros locked in and closed the match strong. Bryant was a force late in the set, recording three blocks as part of a 5-0 run to give UTRGV a 22-15 advantage.
Costantini tallied a setter kill and Nanou tooled the block on the outside to secure the set and match, 25-17, and ignite the celebration.
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