RICHMOND, Ky. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team swept the Northern Kentucky Norse, 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-15), Friday to open the Geri Polvino Invitational at Eastern Kentucky's Olympic Sports Training Center.
UTRGV (2-4) will play its second match of the tournament Friday at 6 p.m. against the hosting EKU Colonels.
Junior setter
Isabella Costantini stuffed the stat sheet for UTRGV, finishing with 29 assists, eight digs, four aces, two kills and one block. Junior outside hitter
Nadine Zech had a team-high nine kills with four blocks while sophomore outside hitter
Martina Franco tabbed eight kills, seven digs and two blocks. Senior right side
Valentina Sarti Cipriani and junior Harlingen High alum
Julianna Bryant both had six kills. Cipriani and junior middle blocker
Aaliyah Snead both had five blocks as the Vaqueros totaled 12 blocks in the match, their best blocking performance and first double-digit block outing since Nov. 11, 2023. Junior libero
Celianiz Cabranes totaled 14 digs, four assists and two aces.
Sydney Bray led Northern Kentucky (2-5) with 14 kills and tabbed six digs.
Abbigail Pickard collected 30 assists and
Lucy Cluxton finished with 11 digs.
The Vaqueros showed their fight to finish sets strong and get back in the win column. In the first set, NKU used an early 5-0 run to take control of the frame and force some UTRGV errors. But the Vaqueros responded well as Cipriani and Zech put down kills and combined for a block to spark the squad. UTRGV used a 4-0 run backed by sharp hitting to take the lead at 16-15 and never looked back. With an active block and tough serving, the Vaqueros created some separation late and ended the frame on a 3-0 run as Franco tabbed a kill and an ace to win it, 25-21.
UTRGV wasn't as sharp offensively in the second set as it was in the first, hitting .108 in the frame after a solid .344 clip in the opening frame, but the defense shined. The Vaqueros recorded five blocks to hold the Norse to a .000 team hitting percentage, forcing 11 attack errors to erase NKU's early set lead.
Cabranes served back-to-back aces and Costantini dropped a pair of setter kills to give UTRGV a slight edge at 14-12 midway through the second set. The Norse answered with a 5-0 run to force a timeout with a 20-18 lead. Bryant teamed up with Cipriani and Costantini to record blocks and swing the momentum in favor of the Vaqueros. UTRGV closed the second set on a 6-1 run with a pair of kills from Franco down the stretch to make it 2-0 with a 25-22 set win.
After battling well through two sets, UTRGV took full control of the third. Costantini got things started with two service aces right from the whistle, then Bryant tabbed a solo block and a kill to quickly put the Vaqueros on top, 10-6. UTRGV's serving pressure and active block forced a slew of Norse errors in the third, helping the Vaqueros jump out to a 14-8 lead. Costantini served four aces in the set and Franco came up big in the final points again, recording a kill and a block to cap a 4-0 run as UTRGV ran away with the third, 25-15, to secure its first sweep of the season.
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