Texas Border Business
RIO GRANE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Volleyball Head Coach Todd Lowery announced on Tuesday the additions of 6-0 freshman middle blocker Revna Çakir, 6-1 graduate student setter Mackenzie Coates and 6-0 freshman PSJA alum Victoria Fuentes for the 2020 season.
Çakir joins UTRGV after playing club volleyball for Nilüfer Sports Club U18 in Bursa, Turkey. Prior to that, Çakir played with the Bursa Metropolitan Municipal Sports Club, leading her team to the 2017 CEV Ladies Challenge Cup Championship, sixth place in the U17 Championships and fifth place in the U16 Championships.
Çakir attended her final two years of high school at Bursa İhsaniye Sınav College, where she played volleyball, basketball and soccer. She led her volleyball team to Provincial Championships during each of her two seasons. Çakir played her first two years at Nova High School, where she also led her team to back-to-back Provincial Championships.
“We are super excited to announce the addition of Revna, who will be ready to come in and compete in the middle right away,” Lowery said. “She is very good off of one foot which gives us two middles that attack the slide very well.”
Coates switches sides in the South Texas Showdown, presented by Navy Army Community Credit Union, as she played her first two seasons at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi before playing last season at Wyoming.
In 2019, Coates averaged 9.71 assists, 1.92 digs, 0.52 blocks, 0.51 kills and 0.23 aces while hitting .276 in 92 sets to earn All-Mountain West Conference Honorable Mention. Coates finished second in the league by averaging 10.67 assists per set during conference play. She led Wyoming to a 22-9 record, including a 16-2 mark in Mountain West Conference play, and a berth in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship. She recently graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Management.
Sidelined for much of the 2018 season due to injury, Coates appeared in 16 matches (six starts) for Corpus Christi as a sophomore, compiling 154 assists, 41 digs, four blocks, 11 kills and four aces. She also recorded five matches with double-figure assists.
As a freshman in 2017, Coates appeared in eight sets across six matches and racked up 16 total assists, two digs and two blocks. She initially enrolled at Corpus Christi in the spring of 2017 to compete during beach volleyball season.
Originally from Buda, Coates earned All-District honors during each of her four years at Hays High School. As a senior, she was named All-District Setter of the Year.
“Mackenzie is a great addition who adds a ton of experience and competitiveness to our roster,” Lowery said. “We have followed Mackenzie throughout her career, and her hard work and dedication has shown in her advancement on the court. She had a great year last year in a very good Mountain West Conference.”
Fuentes comes to UTRGV after earning Hitter of the Year and All-Area honors as a senior at PSJA. She was also named to the Texas Association of Sports Officials (TASO) All-Star West Team and recorded her 1,000th-career kill. Off the court, she was recognized with the Shining Star All-Academics Award.
Fuentes played at Edinburg High School as a junior after her family moved, where she was both Middle Blocker and Outside Hitter of the Year and a member of The Monitor’s All-Area Second Team after recording 384 kills, 101 blocks, 81 digs and 34 aces.
Fuentes played her first two seasons at PSJA and also competed in club volleyball with the RGV Venom.
“Victoria will add depth for us in the middle position,” Lowery said. “We are excited to get Victoria in the gym to really watch her grow. She has a lot of untapped potential.”
Çakir, Coates and Fuentes join 5-11 outside hitter Yamsin da Silva and 5-9 junior setter Emily Holder as part of the 2020 roster.
Season tickets are on sale now and can be purchased online at UTRGVTickets.com or by contacting the UTRGV Athletics Ticket Office team of Carlos Munoz (956-665-3747) andTiffany Ochoa (956-665-3415) over the phone or through email at tickets@utrgv.edu.
