RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team is excited to host School Day, presented by Whataburger, Thursday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse for a Southland Conference (SLC) matchup.

The Vaqueros (6-7, 2-0 SLC) will take on the UIW Cardinals (4-7, 2-0 SLC) at 12 p.m. in front of over 2,000 students from schools across the Rio Grande Valley.
UTRGV is coming off a second consecutive sweep in conference play after downing Nicholls on Saturday. SLC Setter of the Week Lana Rnjak posted a double-double with 27 assists and 12 digs. Rnjak finished the week with 58 assists and is up to third in the SLC at 8.70 assists per set. Ema Petkovic led UTRGV with 13 kills, hitting .270. Julianna Bryant collected a team-high four total blocks and Carmina Tijerina had a career-high with five aces.

The Vaqueros are one of four unbeaten teams in the SLC along with their opponent on Thursday. UIW is coming off a pair of 3-1 wins over East Texas A&M and Northwestern State. The Cardinals also received a weekly honor from the SLC with Ashton Rogers garnering Defensive Player of the Week honors. Rogers leads the Cardinals this season with 4.63 digs per set, which ranks 27th nationally. Offensively, Kitana Tu'ufuli leads the way with 137 kills this season. As a team, UIW ranks seventh in the country in attacks per set at 37.44.

UTRGV will be looking for its 20^th win in the series against UIW. The Vaqueros lead the all-time series 19-8. Last season, UTRGV defeated UIW in both the home and away match. The win at home was head coach Todd Lowery's 600^th of his career and was a 3-1 result. Martina Franco was dominant in that matchup last season with 20 kills and 15 digs. The Vaqueros have not lost a home match to the Cardinals since 2015.

Lowery is now chasing another milestone, 200 wins at UTRGV. He currently sits at 195 after already hitting the 200-win mark at National American (211) and UT-Brownsville (205). Among active Division I head coaches, Lowery ranks seventh in winning percentage at .733. Additionally, his 611 total wins ranks 12^th in D-I.

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