Lupescu, Costantini Tab Southland Conference Volleyball Weekly Awards

The Southland Conference (SLC) announced the Jersey Mike’s Volleyball Player of the Week awards Monday and The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) volleyball team had two student-athletes recognized for the second week in a row as senior outside hitter Claudia Lupescu was named the Offensive Player of the Week and sophomore Isabella Costantini was named the Setter of the Week.

Lupescu totaled 47 kills over three matches, averaging 3.92 kills per set with a .316 hitting percentage for the week. She contributed 4.83 points per set to help the Vaqueros go 2-1 during the homestand. Lupescu also served nine aces and recorded 35 digs.

In a match against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (AMCC), Lupescu tallied 18 kills on .350 hitting. She followed that up by leading UTRGV offensively with a match-high 21 kills on .395 hitting with three aces in a win over Northwestern State (NSU). Lupescu had back-to-back double-doubles in those matches with a career-high 17 and 10 digs, respectively. She capped the week with a career-high five aces and eight kills in a sweep of Texas A&M-Commerce (AMC).

Lupescu is second on the team with 199 kills and averages 3.43 kills/set, ranking eighth in the SLC. She is tied for the team lead with 23 aces, averaging 0.40 aces/set which ranks fourth in the conference.

Costantini earns her third overall and second consecutive Setter of the Week award after dishing out 146 total assists and averaging 12.17 assists/set through three matches. She had UTRGV hitting .257 as a team over the week and the Vaqueros continue to be the top team in hitting percentage in the conference.

Costantini had a career performance Tuesday against AMCC, tallying career highs with 66 assists – the eighth-most in a single match in program history – and seven kills on .636 hitting while also recording 11 digs and two blocks. She had 48 assists with eight digs in a win over NSU and followed that with 32 assists, six digs and two aces in a defeat of AMC.

UTRGV’s offense had great variety this week as Costantini ran things efficiently. She had five hitters in double-digit kills against Corpus as the Vaqueros tallied 81 team kills and had four hitters in double-digit kills against NSU. UTRGV hit .275 against Commerce, which is the second-best single match hitting percentage for the squad this season. Costantini totaled 25 digs, four blocks and three aces as she contributed in every facet of the game.

UTRGV has now claimed six SLC player of the week awards in 2024. The Vaqueros (8-8, 4-2 SLC) are on the road for their next two matches beginning with a 6:30 p.m. match Thursday at Northwestern State.