SAN ANTONIO – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team fell 3-1 (25-20, 25-18, 22-25, 25-16) to the UIW Cardinals in a Southland Conference (SLC) match Thursday at the McDermott Center.
Outside hitter
Martina Franco led the Vaqueros (14-12, 10-5 SLC) with 16 kills and six digs. Right side
Ema Petkovic returned to action for the first time since the East Texas A&M match on Oct. 10, after missing eight matches, and had nine kills. Middle blocker
Julianna Bryant added 10 kills on a .412 clip, and freshman outside hitter
Soukeyna Diouf chipped in eight kills. Middle blocker
Aaliyah Snead had seven kills and four blocks. Setter
Lana Rnjak posted her second consecutive double-double with 44 assists and 12 digs, and senior libero
Celianiz Cabranes also had 12 digs.
For the Cardinals (15-9, 13-2 SLC),
Calissa Allison posted a triple-double with 12 kills, 24 assists and 12 digs.
Teddy-Raye Ewers led UIW with 13 kills, and
Kitana Tuufuli and
Lilly Roach each added 12.
Victoria Hall had 21 assists,
Ashton Rogers led the defense with 15 digs, and
Vanessa Eregie and
Sofia Grimm each had four blocks.
UTRGV took the first lead of the opening set on a Snead kill, and a Cabranes serving run, with kills from Franco and Bryant, turned a 2-2 tie into a 5-2 advantage. Franco kills helped build a 10-6 lead, but the Cardinals answered, and Roach recorded three kills as UIW tied it at 12-12, 13-13 and 14-14. The set was tied five times in all, and UIW outscored UTRGV 11-6 the rest of the way to take Set 1, 25-20.
UIW opened the second set with an Allison ace, and Ewers served four straight points to build a 7-1 lead. Petkovic entered with UTRGV trailing 7-1, and her first attack back was a kill that made it 10-3. The Vaqueros fought back with a 6-1 run, with two Bryant kills and Rnjak serving three straight points, including a Snead and Diouf block and a Snead kill, to get it to 14-10. UIW led the rest of the way, using a five-point run, four of them on Isabella Ceja's serve, to go up 23-14. UTRGV scored four of the final five points, on kills from Bryant, Snead and Franco, but the Cardinals took the set, 25-18.
The third set was tied six times. After UIW took a 13-10 lead, a Franco kill started a 5-0 run. Petkovic served four straight points in the run, which included a Franco kill, a Bryant kill and a Bryant and Franco block, to put UTRGV up 15-13. UIW answered with a 4-0 run on Ceja's serve to lead 18-17. Diouf's kill tied it at 18-18, and she added kills at 20-18 and 22-20. A Petkovic kill made it 24-20, and a Franco kill ended the set, 25-22.
UIW opened the fourth set with a 4-0 run, aided by a Eregie block of Franco, and led from start to finish. UTRGV got a Franco ace and kills from Petkovic and Bryant, but the Cardinals pulled away behind Allison, Roach and Tuufuli to win the set, 25-16.
UTRGV returns to action at 1 p.m. Saturday at Houston Christian at Sharp Gym in Houston.
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