Volleyball Sweeps Incarnate Word on Senior Night

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team earned a 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 26-24) sweep in a Southland Conference (SLC) match Thursday against the Incarnate Word (UIW) Cardinals in front of a rowdy crowd of 1,633 fans at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.

UTRGV (15-10, 11-4 SLC) honored five graduates before the match and all five scored in the victory. Senior outside hitter Claudia Lupescu paced the offense with 15 kills on .371 hitting and had 14 digs. Senior outside hitter Ilana De Assis added 11 kills with 12 digs. Senior right side Perris Key and sophomore outside hitter Nadine Zech each had nine kills with Key hitting .467. Sophomore setter Isabella Costantini tallied 41 assists and seven aces and sophomore libero Celianiz Cabranes racked up 15 digs.

UIW (16-9, 9-6 SLC) got seven kills each from Calissa Allison and Risa Sena. Allison led the Cardinals with 12 digs and also dished out 11 assists, matching Anuhea  Faitau assist total.

The first set was a rollercoaster that saw both teams put together scoring runs to keep things exciting. The Vaqueros jumped out to an early 7-2 advantage and were leading by as many as six points before the Cardinals got on a roll and closed the deficit to 17-16.

Costantini mixed up her hitters well and the offensive variety of the Vaqueros carried them to victory late in the set. UTRGV hit .316 in the frame with six different players recording at least two kills, led by powerful swings from Lupescu and Assis. UTRGV’s block was active, too, holding UIW to .091 hitting and slowing the Cardinals down late to secure the 25-18 win.

The second set started tight, but UTRGV quickly gained control and never looked back. The Vaqueros used a 4-0 run to jump on top, 11-6, as Zech put down well-placed kills and the block again got hot. The Vaqueros recorded four blocks in the second set with Costantini and Key pacing the front line defense. Assis and Lupescu continued to rip shots all across the court, finding the line and going cross court and mixing in off-speed touches to keep the Cardinals on their heels. UIW collected just seven kills as they were held to -.028 hitting as UTRGV won the second set, 25-14.

Both teams battled hard in a back-and-forth third set. The Cardinals took the first two points, then the Vaqueros went on a 5-0 run to lead 7-3. Each time UIW closed the gap to two, UTRGV had an answer. Junior Sharyland Pioneer alum Natalie Reyes served an ace for the 15-10 lead, marking all five players honored on senior night recording at least one point in the match after senior outside hitter Ingridy Nicoleti Foltran notched a kill in the second set.

Incarnate Word showed good fight to close the gap to 17-16 as the offense finally found a rhythm in the final frame. Key showed out on senior night and slammed down a pair of momentum-changing kills from the middle to spark a run and a 21-16 lead for the Vaqueros. But the Cardinals responded again with a 6-0 run to regain the lead at 23-22.

Zech tooled the block to even things up, then an attack error by UIW tied the match again at 24-24. Lupescu ripped back-to-back kills from the outside to secure the sweep with a 26-24 third set win.

The Vaqueros played their final home match of the regular season at 2 p.m. Saturday against Houston Christian.