HARRISONBURG, Va. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team was defeated, 3-1 (28-26, 21-25, 25-19, 25-16), by the James Madison (JMU) Dukes Friday in the first match of the Erie Insurance Invitational at the JMU Convocation Center.
Junior outside hitter
Nadine Zech recorded a season-high 14 kills with three blocks and six digs for UTRGV (3-6). Freshman outside hitter
Dimitra Nanou added 12 kills on .370 hitting with a career-high tying 16 digs for her second double-double. Junior middle blocker
Aaliyah Snead had a season-high 10 kills while junior middle blocker and Harlingen High alum
Julianna Bryant finished with eight kills on .389 hitting with a season-high five blocks. Junior setter
Isabella Costantini tallied 39 assists, two kills, two aces, two blocks and six digs.
Kennedy Louisell led JMU (5-5) with 25 kills on .431 hitting and had seven digs.
Ana Toumazatos added 14 kills and
Anna Wilson had 10 kills on .692 hitting with two aces and three blocks.
The Dukes got in control early in the first set, but UTRGV played clean volleyball to make things tight down the stretch behind a .400 hitting percentage. Zech and the middles sparked the Vaqueros offense after JMU opened up a 15-11 lead. A pair of blocks by Snead and a powerful swing from Bryant to win a one-on-one battle pulled UTRGV within 22-21, forcing the Dukes to call timeout.
Snead scored on a first-touch tip kill off an overpass to even up the first set, then an ace from Costantini gave UTRGV the first set point up 25-24. JMU answered, then senior right side
Valentina Sarti Cipriani got the Vaqueros to a second set point with a kill at 26-25. The Dukes scored three unanswered to take a back-and-forth first set, 28-26.
The tight battle continued to start Set 2, then the dynamic middles again got the Vaqueros on a roll. Bryant notched a solo block and a strong kill to tie things up at 9-9 and was fired up going to the bench. That led to an energy uptick for the Vaqueros who went on a 5-0 run with help from an ace by senior setter/defensive specialist
Natalie Reyes, a Sharyland Pioneer alum, to hold a 13-9 advantage. Snead slammed back-to-back kills and added her sixth a few rallies later to extend the lead to six.
JMU cleaned things up late in the frame and used its own 5-0 run to cut the deficit to 20-17, forcing a UTRGV timeout. Bryant and Zech tabbed a block and Bryant won a joust on the net to help the Vaqueros get to set point at 24-18. The Dukes killed three set points, but UTRGV took the second, 25-21, to knot the match at 1-1 after a JMU attack error.
Set 3 saw the teams exchange scores through the first 20 points. UTRGV was pressuring the net and Costantini served her second ace to keep the Vaqueros close. But the Dukes went on a 5-0 run to jump on top, 15-9, and maintained control through the back half of the frame. The Vaqueros totaled three blocks in the set and continued to hit with efficiency, but JMU took a 2-1 match lead with a 25-19 third set.
UTRGV jumped out to an early lead in Set 4 as Snead recorded back-to-back kills and the block remained aggressive. But the Dukes scored seven unanswered and got UTRGV's offense out of sync midway through the frame. The Vaqueros hit .114 in the set while JMU was sharp on the attack to take the set, 25-16, and secure the victory.
The Vaqueros will face William & Mary at 3 p.m. Saturday in their second match of the Erie Insurance Invitational.
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