COMMERCE, Texas – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) #2 Vaqueros volleyball team swept the #7 Houston Christian University Huskies, 3-0 (25-15, 25-22, 25-13), Friday in the quarterfinals of the Southland Conference (SLC) Championship at The Field House.
The Vaqueros (21-7) will now face the #6 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders (13-16) in the semifinals on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Freshman outside hitter
Dimitra Nanou tabbed her eighth double-double to lead UTRGV with 12 kills on .385 hitting, 10 digs and two aces. Sophomore outside hitter
Martina Franco and senior right side
Valentina Sarti Cipriani both had eight kills while the middle blocking duo of junior
Aaliyah Snead and redshirt sophomore Harlingen High alum
Julianna Bryant added six and five, respectively. Junior setter
Isabella Costantini showcased the multiplicity of the offense while recording 35 assists and 10 digs for her ninth double-double.
UTRGV's defense gave the Huskies fits. Junior libero
Celianiz Cabranes tallied 14 digs and the Vaqueros totaled 10 blocks. Snead led the way with a career-high tying six blocks and Cipriani had five.
Tay Bonner-Williams and
Joya Euhus led Houston Christian (12-18) with seven kills each.
Chloe Richards recorded 24 assists and
Bianca Byerly had 14 digs.
UTRGV played sharp in the opening set to quickly capture a 25-15 set win. Cipriani recorded a kill and a block to assist an early 5-0 run that put the Vaqueros fully in control, and the great energy they played with had the squad on a roll. Costantini was mixing up her hitters well to get the Huskies defense on its heels. The block was active and the outside hitting tandem of Franco and Nanou put UTRGV up by 10. Snead recorded a pair of blocks in the final three points to secure the 1-0 match lead.
Set 2 was all UTRGV early, but the Huskies showed their fight. The Vaqueros continued to put down kills at a high rate, and an ace from senior Sharyland Pioneer alum
Natalie Reyes gave UTRGV a 13-7 lead. Then, Houston Christian scored six unanswered to even things up at 14-14. The teams swapped scores for a stretch until a solo block by Bryant fired up the Vaqueros, who then scored three in a row to take a key four-point lead. Nanou and Snead were big contributors late and a solo block from Snead secured the 2-0 match lead with a competitive 25-22 set win.
The Huskies opened the third set with a 2-0 lead, but the Vaqueros didn't take long to find their groove. Costantini and Nanou, the top servers on the squad, backed scoring runs from the service line and Cipriani slammed down a cross court shot for the 7-3 lead. Nanou was stellar midway through the frame and changed the momentum, recording kills and aces to aid a 19-10 lead after back-to-back blocks by UTRGV.
UTRGV closed the match on a 10-3 run to earn its trip to the semifinals.
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