CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The third time was indeed the charm for The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) volleyball team as the Vaqueros earned their first win over the Texas State Bobcats since 2002 in the third edition of the Southwest Showdown, 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-18), Friday at the Dugan Wellness Center in Corpus Christi.
The Vaqueros (1-2) controlled the match from start to finish to earn the sweep, picking up just their second victory over Texas State in 23 tries. They tallied 12 blocks and held the Bobcats (1-2) to .094 hitting.
Junior outside hitter
Martina Franco led UTRGV with 12 kills and three aces and had two blocks. Freshman
Soukeyna Diouf added a career-high 11 kills on .529 hitting, committing just two errors on 17 swings. Right side
Ema Petkovic finished with seven kills and had a career-high nine digs with two blocks. Redshirt junior middle blocker and Harlingen High alum
Julianna Bryant tabbed six kills on .455 hitting with five blocks, including four solo. Freshman
Lana Rnjak dished out a career-high tying 36 assists with two blocks. Freshman
Dunja Stankovic played her first collegiate match at libero and had a career-high nine digs.
Brooke Bentke led Texas State with eight kills, 10 digs and three blocks.
Caelyn Emmerling and
India Bennett had seven and six kills, respectively.
UTRGV entered Friday's match with 10 blocks through two contests. In the opening set against Texas State, the Vaqueros totaled seven blocks to hold the Bobcats attack to -.071 hitting. The stellar net presence forced mistakes and opened things up for the offense. UTRGV went on a 7-0 run backed by a pair of aces by Petkovic and a trio of blocks to take an early 11-4 lead. The Vaqueros led by as many as nine points to force Texas State to call a timeout.
Rnjak and Bryant put down back-to-back kills to have UTRGV on top, 20-12. UTRGV's defense was stingy and didn't allow the Bobcats to create any rhythm or score more than two in a row for most of the set. A pair of aces got Texas State within 23-18 late, but Diouf responded with a kill out of a timeout and Petkovic secured the 25-19 set win.
UTRGV kept the momentum rolling in the second behind an extremely efficient and versatile attack. By the end of Set 2, four Vaqueros had at least five kills while the hitting percentage improved from .300 in the first frame to .389 in the second. UTRGV jumped on top early, but Texas State used a 3-0 run to get within 11-10.
The Vaqueros bounced right back with big kills from Franco and an ace from senior
Sujeili Mermella to open things up back to 15-11 at the media timeout. Texas State fought back again late in the frame, but the Vaqueros showed progress and weren't fazed. With the lead down to two, Franco recorded a pair of kills to get to set point. Rnjak dropped a setter kill to take the set, 25-22.
Set 3 was tight through the first 10 points and saw both teams go on scoring runs. With the frame knotted at 5-5, Diouf slammed home three consecutive kills to create some separation for UTRGV. A Texas State ace had the Bobcats down by one before Bryant tabbed a pair of blocks – one solo and one with Petkovic – to spark a massive, match-changing run.
The Vaqueros scored eight in a row to open up a commanding 19-10 lead. Three blocks in the stretch, all anchored by Bryant, had the Bobcats completely out of sorts.
Celianiz Cabranes was stellar at the service line through the scoring run, serving up an ace and forcing errors by the Bobcats. Franco added an ace to put UTRGV up 23-13 before Texas State tried to fight back. The Bobcats used a 4-0 run to force a Vaqueros timeout and trim the deficit to six.
UTRGV was mentally tough and closed the match strong with kills from Franco and Petkovic to take the set, 25-18. The Vaqueros will wrap up their run at the Southwest Showdown Saturday at 11 a.m. against UTEP.
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