RIO GRANDE VALLEY – It wasn't nearly as easy as the 3-0 score might indicate, but The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team earned a gritty 28-26, 25-15, 27-25 Southland Conference (SLC) sweep over the HCU Huskies Saturday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse, improving the winning streak to five matches.
Redshirt junior Harlingen High alum
Julianna Bryant tabbed a season-high 14 kills on .667 hitting, committing just two attack errors on 18 swings. She contributed to five of UTRGV's six blocks to help power the Vaqueros (8-7, 4-0 SLC) to their third sweep in four conference matches. Bryant and the Vaqueros defense limited HCU to .146 hitting.
Junior outside hitter
Martina Franco paced the three-headed UTRGV attack with 15 kills on .382 hitting and had 10 digs for her fourth double-double. Sophomore right side
Ema Petkovic added 11 kills, seven digs, two aces and three blocks. Freshman setter
Lana Rnjak dished out a career-high 45 assists with six digs and three blocks. Senior libero
Celianiz Cabranes anchored an active defensive effort with 12 digs.
Katy Barger led HCU (2-14, 0-4 SLC) with eight kills.
Sa'myah Medford and
Joya Euhus had seven kills each while Euhus also had a team-high two blocks.
Bianca Byerly recorded a match-high 13 digs and
Enisilina Savelio tabbed 25 assists.
Both teams came out firing in the first set and treated spectators to competitive rallies, great defense and massive swings. The Vaqueros tabbed two blocks against the outside pin to jump on top early, but the gritty Huskies shifted momentum with a pair of 4-0 runs to hold a 15-12 lead at the media timeout.
Bryant's presence on the net helped UTRGV quickly even things up at 15-15 as she slammed home a kill and forced attack errors. From that point, the squads exchanged two-point runs to a 22-22 tie. The defenses were electric, getting under the hard swings the pins were launching and covering the court well when the off-speed touches were mixed in. HCU got to set point up 24-22, but a UTRGV block and an ace from Petkovic knotted things up again.
The high-risk, high-reward service mentality of the Vaqueros showed as the next serve was an error, getting another set point for the Huskies. Two plays later, Cabranes served an ace to notch UTRGV's first set point. Petkovic capped an exciting rally with a rip through the block to claim the first set, 28-26, for the Vaqueros. UTRGV had three aces in clutch times but also committed five service errors in the frame.
The Vaqueros took the momentum from the hard-fought first set and opened a 10-5 lead early in Set 2. The power trio of Petkovic, Bryant and Franco dropped three consecutive kills as Rnjak mixed up her offensive attack nicely and had the UTRGV offense rolling. Again, the fight from HCU came out, and the Huskies used a 4-0 run to force a UTRGV timeout.
Rnjak served an ace to grow the lead back to four points before the teams started swapping scores through the middle of the frame. The Vaqueros closed the set on an 8-0 run with kills from all pins and an ace by Franco as they showed how efficient they can be when in rhythm. UTRGV took a 2-0 match lead with the 25-15 set win.
Set 3 started with a few errors by both teams before a 4-0 run created the first separation for UTRGV, aided by a kill and an ace from Petkovic. Sophomore Brownsville St. Joseph alum
Carmina Tijerina recorded her second ace of the match to put the Vaqueros up by four, but the Huskies used two-point spurts to keep things close. Bryant delivered two sharp kills on the middle attack to take a 15-12 lead for UTRGV at the media break.
UTRGV forced a Huskies timeout with a 5-0 run. Bryant and Rnjak perfectly executed a slide attack and combined for a block to push the Vaqueros lead to 19-12. But HCU regrouped and responded, helped by a block and a pair of attack errors by UTRGV to cut the deficit to four. Senior middle blocker
Aaliyah Snead recorded a kill to stop the run and added another to build the lead back to five, but HCU rallied back with a 7-1 run to earn the first set point at 25-24 following two consecutive errors by the Vaqueros.
Bryant got the Vaqueros back on track with a key kill snuck right inside the sideline, then an error by the Huskies led to match point for UTRGV at 26-25. Bryant and Rnjak stuffed the outside hitter to secure the sweep with a 27-25 set win.
UTRGV's next match will be a SLC contest at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Northwestern State.
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