RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team defeated the UIW Cardinals, 3-1 (25-21, 18-25, 25-18, 26-24), Thursday in a Southland Conference (SLC) match in front of 2,339 fans on School Day, presented by Whataburger, at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
This is the fourth year in a row the Vaqueros (7-7, 3-0 SLC) have hosted and won on School Day. The 2,339 fans marks the fourth-largest crowd in program history.
Sophomore right side
Ema Petkovic was electric, recording a career-high 26 kills while hitting .429 with eight digs – 26 kills is the third-most recorded in a four-set match in Div. I women's volleyball this season. Junior outside hitter
Martina Franco added 18 kills with 10 digs for her third double-double and served two aces. Freshman outside hitter
Soukeyna Diouf and redshirt junior Harlingen High alum
Julianna Bryant had six and five kills, respectively, while Bryant notched five blocks. Freshman setter
Lana Rnjak had UTRGV hitting .248 as she recorded a career-high tying 44 assists with 13 digs and two blocks for her fourth double-double. Senior libero
Celianiz Cabranes tabbed a season-high tying 19 digs with five assists, moving to No. 7 in program history with 1,100 digs in her UTRGV career.
Kitana Tuufuli led UIW (4-8, 2-1 SLC) with 16 kills.
Lillly Roach had 10 kills on .471 hitting. The Cardinals setters,
Calissa Allison and
Victoria Hall, dished out 23 and 21 assists, respectively, while Allison tabbed 10 digs, eight kills and two blocks for a double-double.
Ashton Rogers had a team-high 18 digs.
The Vaqueros and Cardinals treated the rowdy fans to big kills and sharp volleyball from the opening serve. The first set was tight with the teams swapping two-point runs behind tough serving and efficient offense. The home team found the largest separation early at 11-8 following a smart kill by Franco with the assist from middle blocker
Aaliyah Snead. UIW tabbed back-to-back blocks to slow down UTRGV's momentum and used a 5-1 run with four kills by Tuufuli to take a 17-15 lead.
UTRGV rode the energy of the crowd to a strong finish in Set 1. Cabranes served an ace to force UIW to call timeout with the Vaqueros back on top, 20-19. Petkovic and Franco put down consecutive kills to shift the set back in UTRGV's favor, then a solo block by Bryant helped a 25-21 set win.
The Cardinals bookended the second set with controlled runs to even the match at 1-1. UIW forced an early UTRGV timeout as it jumped out to a 7-1 lead aided by three errors from the Vaqueros. A Snead block and an ace from freshman
Dunja Stankovic created some rhythm for the Vaqueros. Franco recorded a kill and an ace as part of a 5-1 run which trimmed the deficit to one. The Cardinals opened their lead back to 15-11, but the Vaqueros went on a 6-2 run out of the media timeout to knot things up at 17-17. UIW responded with a 5-0 run and outscored UTRGV 8-1 down the stretch to take the set, 25-18, after four attack errors by the Vaqueros.
UTRGV went from hitting .125 in the second set to executing at a .375 clip to win the third, 25-18. Petkovic and Snead combined for an early block, then the heavy-hitting right side Petkovic notched a trio of kills to put the Cardinals on their heels. Rnjak was spreading the ball around and the UTRGV attackers were mixing sharp swings and off-speed pushes to score at will. Sophomore Brownsville St. Joseph alum
Carmina Tijerina served an ace and Bryant and Rnjak combined for a block to push the UTRGV lead to 19-11.
The Vaqueros continued to hit efficiently late in the third set. They committed just one attack error through the final 11 points recorded. Franco ripped one to reach set point and Petkovic had a kill to claim the set and go up 2-1 in the match. UTRGV had 17 kills and two errors in the strong third set.
Set 4 was a back-and-forth affair as both teams battled in the pivotal frame. Franco and Bryant recorded consecutive kills to give the Vaqueros a two-point cushion which was maintained to a 9-7 lead. A block fired up the Cardinals, who scored four in a row to force a Vaqueros timeout, and big production from Tuufuli had UIW leading 15-12 at the media break.
Bryant got up for a solo stuff on the middle attacker to spark a 5-0 run for UTRGV. Franco served an ace and Bryant collected another block, this one assisted by Rnjak, to take a 17-15 lead. UTRGV played solid defense to keep a key rally alive and Diouf sent a soft touch to the floor to make it 20-17. But UIW responded again and evened the set at 20-20.
Diouf capped another competitive rally with a kill from the outside after nice digs from Franco and Cabranes. The Cardinals took a brief 23-22 lead before Petkovic tooled the block then slammed a deep kill just inside the baseline to reach match point. UIW fought off one match point, but a service error followed by a clutch kill from Bryant in the middle clinched the set, 26-24, and the match.
The Vaqueros will host Houston Christian University at 12 p.m. Saturday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse in another SLC match.
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