Texas Border Business
OREM, Utah – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team fell to the Utah Valley University Wolverines 2-3 (25-21, 25-18, 9-25, 22-25, 7-15) on Saturday at Lockhart Arena.
Senior Barbara Silva led the Vaqueros (7-9, 1-1 WAC) with 14 kills. Sophomore Sarah Cruz recorded 11 kills, eight digs and two blocks. Freshman Victoire Nama posted seven kills with eight digs and two aces. Junior Veronika Jandova added four blocks with six kills and an ace. Junior Debora Nazario dished out 41 assists with four blocks, two kills and five digs. Junior Samaret Caraballo finished with 22 digs and five assists.
Kazna Tarawhiti led the Wolverines (4-10, 1-1 WAC) with 19 kills, 11 digs, five blocks and two aces. Megan Childs finished with 11 kills on .348 hitting.
The Wolverines jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the first set. The Vaqueros responded by scoring the next six points as part of a 10-1 run to take a 13-9 lead on a block by Cruz and Jandova. The Vaqueros pushed their lead to 16-11 on an error before the Wolverines won seven of the next 11 serves to pull to within 18-20. After a timeout, a Silva kill and an ace by junior Paulina Ramirez helped the Vaqueros restore their five-point lead. Three serves later, with the score 23-21, a service error restored the Vaqueros’ serve and Cruz came up with a kill to end the set.
The Wolverines took an early lead in the second set as well, going up 7-3. A kill and back-to-back aces by Nama sparked the Vaqueros to go on a 14-5 run to take a 17-12 lead. The Wolverines won four of the next six serves to climb to within 16-19 before three Cruz kills helped the Vaqueros go on a 6-2 run to end the set.
After dropping the third set, the Vaqueros fell behind 2-5 at the start of the fourth set. Kills by Jandova and Cruz helped the Vaqueros score five of the next seven points to tie the set. Then, down 8-11, kills by Cruz and Silva and a pair by Oliveira allowed the Vaqueros to take the lead. The Wolverines won five of the next seven serves to take the lead before back-to-back Jandova kills helped the Vaqueros score four in a row to take an 18-16 lead. The Wolverines answered with an 8-2 run to reach set point at 24-20. The Vaqueros won the next two serves before a Tarawhiti kill ended the set.
The Vaqueros led 2-1 to start the fifth set on kills by Cruz and Silva, but the Wolverines won the next six serves and never looked back to win the match.
UTRGV is back in action on Thursday at 7 p.m. at New Mexico State.
 Vaqueros volleyball team fell to the Utah Valley University Wolverines 2-3 (25-21, 25-18, 9-25, 22-25, 7-15) on Saturday at Lockhart Arena.){kind=link}