RIO GRANDE VALLEY – After playing 11 of its first 12 matches on the road, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team returns home Saturday to host the Nicholls Colonels at 12 p.m. at the UTRGV Fieldhouse in its first Southland Conference (SLC) home match of the season. The match also kicks off a run of three consecutive home matches for UTRGV.

The Vaqueros (5-7, 1-0 SLC) opened Southland Conference play with a win at McNeese on Wednesday – their first true road win of the season. UTRGV swept the opener with its best hitting performance of the season at .322. Outside hitter Martina Franco hit .333 in the match and collected 12 kills. Middle blocker Julianna Bryant added eight kills on a season-best .615 attack percentage. Right side Ema Petkovic contributed with eight kills and three aces. Petkovic ranks among the nation's top five in aces (34) and aces per set (0.77).

The Colonels (7-7, 0-1 SLC) also started conference play on Wednesday. Nicholls had a dominant second set to tie its match at 1-1 with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi but fell in four sets. Madison Smith led the attack for the Colonels with 18 kills, hitting .245. Jenna Cicherski and Isabella Padilla split setting duties with 19 and 16 assists, respectively. Libero Natalia Navarro finished the match with 22 of the team's 42 digs

Last season, the Vaqueros went 8-0 at home in conference matches. Saturday marks the third meeting in conference play between these two teams with UTRGV winning both of the previous contests in 2024 and 2025. Overall, Nicholls leads the series 4-2 with all four wins coming on neutral courts. Last year, the Vaqueros swept the Colonels behind 12 kills by Bryant and nine kills from Franco. Libero Celianiz Cabranes had 14 digs in that match and led the defense for UTRGV.

Coming into Saturday's match, Petkovic and Franco are the third- and fourth-best scorers in the SLC at 4.27 and 3.18 points per set, respectively. In her last two matches alone, Franco is hitting .368 with 32 kills. Setter Lana Rnjak continues to rack up assists, now third in the conference at 8.68 assists per set. At the net, Bryant is averaging 1.02 blocks per set which ranks fourth in the conference.