RICHMOND, Ky. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team showed its fight Friday, but fell 3-0 (25-23, 29-27, 25-16) to the Eastern Kentucky (EKU) Colonels in its second match of the Geri Polvino Invitational at the Olympic Sports Training Center.
Sophomore outside hitter
Martina Franco led UTRGV (2-5) with 13 kills and a career-high four blocks while recording five digs. Freshman outside hitter
Dimitra Nanou tabbed nine kills on .364 hitting with five digs. Junior Harlingen High alum
Julianna Bryant finished with five kills and four blocks. Junior libero
Celianiz Cabranes had 15 digs and junior setter
Isabella Costantini dished out 33 assists with seven digs and two aces.
Addison Burke paced EKU (6-3) with 16 kills on .419 hitting with 11 digs and two blocks.
Ag Hynes added 12 kills on .526 hitting.
Cassidy Trahan had a match-high 18 digs and the setting duo of
Emilee Hill and
Cooper Abney recorded 26 and 19 assists, respectively.
UTRGV opened the match with a 4-0 run and held a 5-2 lead after a trio of kills from Franco. The Colonels served a pair of aces to swing momentum in their favor and went on a few scoring runs as they opened up a 19-13 lead, forcing a timeout by UTRGV. The Vaqueros came out of the break sharp, using a 7-2 run backed by big effort from Franco and Bryant to knot the frame at 21-21. Franco continued to swing well as the teams battled late, putting down two of her seven first-set kills in the final points to keep the Vaqueros close, but EKU took the set, 25-23.
Eastern Kentucky used efficient hitting to jump out to an early lead in the second set. The Colonels were putting down kills at a high clip and preventing the Vaqueros from finding any rhythm as they opened up a 17-10 advantage. But UTRGV showed its fight and chipped away by slowing down the EKU attack as junior middle blocker
Aaliyah Sneadteamed with senior right side
Valentina Sarti Cipriani and Franco to tab some blocks.
Nanou entered the match and brought a good spark off the bench, recording seven kills on .467 hitting in the second set to help UTRGV get within 23-22 and force a Colonels timeout. Bryant put down back-to-back kills to put the Vaqueros on top, 25-24, then the teams swapped scores and set points until a Nanou kill had UTRGV leading, 27-26. EKU closed the set on a 3-0 run to take it, 29-27, and hold a 2-0 match lead.
The third set started tight as the teams continued to battle, and the Vaqueros took a 9-7 lead as the block gave EKU trouble and they had good variety in the offensive attack. But EKU used two scoring spurts of seven unanswered points to take control of the set, opening up a 23-12 lead following an ace. The Vaqueros killed off three match points, but EKU clinched the sweep following a service error, 25-16.
UTRGV wraps up the Geri Polvino Invitational with a 3 p.m. neutral site match against Akron on Saturday.
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