HARRISONBURG, Va. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team earned a 3-0 sweep (25-19, 25-22, 25-23) over the William & Mary (W&M) Tribe Saturday behind strong performances from the middles at the Erie Insurance Invitational.
Junior middle blocker
Aaliyah Snead recorded a season-high 11 kills with an impressive .667 hitting percentage, committing just one attack error on 15 swings. She also had two blocks. Junior middle blocker and Harlingen High alum
Julianna Bryant added seven kills and contributed to four of UTRGV's (4-6) seven blocks. Freshman outside hitter
Dimitra Nanou had 11 kills on .346 hitting, two aces and two blocks. Junior outside hitter
Nadine Zech recorded nine kills and a season-high eight digs.
Junior setter
Isabella Costantini finished with a season-high five kills, 37 assists and six digs as she had the Vaqueros hitting .308 in the sweep. Junior libero
Celianiz Cabranes collected a match-high 16 digs and six assists.
Nicole Smith led William & Mary (5-5) with nine kills and three blocks. Both setters,
Beatriz Silva and
Shylah Swope, had 13 assists.
The Vaqueros found a rhythm early as Bryant recorded a pair of blocks and junior defensive specialist
Isa Bento forced some errors with her tricky serve. Bento tabbed two aces as part of a 7-0 scoring run to get UTRGV in control. The Tribe went on a run to close the gap to two, but UTRGV stayed focused and got good swings from Zech and Nanou to reach set point. Snead and senior right side
Valentina Sarti Cipriani combined for a block to secure the first set, 25-19.
UTRGV carried its momentum into Set 2 and jumped out to an 8-1 advantage after scoring seven unanswered with a pair of aces from Nanou. The Vaqueros middles were effective and Zech kept swinging well to get her squad to 20. Again, the Tribe pushed points late and the Vaqueros were up to the task, using a pair of kills from Nanou to win the set, 25-22, and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
The third set was the tightest of the match. Neither team scored in bunches through the first 15 rallies, but W&M found some momentum to take an 11-8 lead. UTRGV found success with a multiple attack that really ran through the middles as Snead and Bryant put down a trio of kills to swing the slim advantage UTRGV's way at 14-13.
The teams swapped two-point scoring spurts as they raced to 25. William & Mary took the 23-22 lead following back-to-back kills from
Audrey Brcka, then the Vaqueros showed their resilience. Bryant notched a kill and a block with Costantini, then Nanou recorded a kill to secure the sweep and the set, 25-23.
UTRGV's final match of the Erie Insurance Invitational is set for 10 a.m. Sunday against Delaware State.
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