Texas Border Business
RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team dropped the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) opener to the Stephen F. Austin ‘Jacks, who won the last four Southland Conference Championships before joining the WAC, 1-3 (21-25, 25-14, 19-25, 20-25) on Saturday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse in front of an exuberant crowd of 762.
Junior Sarah Cruz led the Vaqueros (8-6, 0-1 WAC) with a career-high 28 kills on .400 hitting, a career-high 21 digs and a career-high tying four aces for her fifth double-double of the season. Sophomore Ioanna Charitonidi finished with eight kills, nine digs, two aces and two blocks. Sophomore Luisa Silva Dos Santos recorded eight kills with two blocks. Freshman Luanna Emiliano posted her 11th double-double with 46 assists, 10 digs and two aces.
Valeria Rosado led the ‘Jacks (10-3, 1-0 WAC) with 11 kills and eight digs.
The ‘Jacks scored the first three points of the first set, but a Cruz kill sparked a 5-1 run to give the Vaqueros the lead. The Vaqueros pushed their lead to 9-6 when a Cruz kill capped a 3-0 run. The Vaqueros still led by three at 14-11 on a block by Charitonidi and senior Veronika Jandova. The Jacks won the next four serves as part of an 8-1 run to take an 19-15 lead. Two serves later, with the score 16-20, the Vaqueros went on a 4-1 run, punctuated by an Emiliano ace, to pull within 20-21. The Vaqueros were also within 21-22 after an error, but that’s as close as they got.
Cruz served up three-straight aces to help the Vaqueros jump out to a 5-1 lead in the second set. Then, with the score 6-3, back-to-back Charitonidi kills sparked an 11-4 run to put the Vaqueros up 17-7. The ‘Jacks got as close as eight at 11-19 before four Cruz kills helped the Vaqueros scored five of the set’s final eight points.
Emiliano started the third set with an ace as the Vaqueros took a 3-1 lead. The ‘Jacks won the next four serves as part of a 9-4 run to take a 10-5 lead. Later, with the score 11-16, a Jandova kill sparked a 3-0 run to bring the Vaqueros within two, but the ‘Jacks scored the next four points to go up 20-14. The Vaqueros scored four of the next five points to climb within 18-21 on an Emiliano kill, but the ‘Jacks scored the next four points to push the set out of reach.
Cruz came up with three early kills to help the Vaqueros jump out to a 5-2 lead in the fourth set. The ‘Jacks scored four of the next five points to tie the set at 6. The Vaqueros responded with a Jandova kill and an ace by freshman Ada Bulgur to take the lead. The ‘Jacks came back to tie the set at 11, 12 and 13 before kills by Jandova and Cruz put the Vaqueros up 15-13. The Vaqueros again led by two at 17-15 on a Charitonidi ace and 18-16 on an error. The ‘Jacks scored the next two points to tie the set before a Cruz kill put the Vaqueros up 19-18. The Vaqueros then led 20-19 on a Santos kill. The ‘Jacks, however, scored the final six points of the match.
UTRGV plays its next three matches on the road, starting Oct. 2 at 2 p.m. at Lamar. Those unable to attend the match in person can watch in the United States on ESPN+ or internationally on the WAC Digital Network.
