For the second season in a row, the UTRGV Volleyball Team (17-12) worked its way to the Western Athletic Conference Tournament Championship match.
This time, there was no dancing, but disappointment, tears and a record-breaking crowd dressed in orange, who arrived early and stayed late to show love, win or lose, to the best team UTRGV has seen in years.
The Vaqueras were pushed to their limit but fell short in the tournament final against California State University, Bakersfield 3-1 (27-25, 18-25, 28-30, 18-25), losing for the first time in the UTRGV Fieldhouse all season, finishing 11-1 at home.
In the first set, UTRGV found themselves down 11-6, but fought back to kick off the WAC Tournament final in dramatic fashion. Facing set point, sophomore outside hitter Barbara Silva came up with a kill, which Kellie Woodin, a freshman defensive specialist and McAllen High School alumna, followed up with an ace. UTRGV’s next two points came off the arms of senior co-captain and outside hitter Bojana Mitrovic and junior setter Dubravka Vukoja.
In the second set, CSUB’s Sydney Haynes and Aleksandra Djordjevic began to enforce their will, as they led the Roadrunners with 19 and 14 kills apiece, while Djordjevic, who was named the tournament Most Valuable Player, also finished with 12 digs and four blocks.
With momentum up for grabs in the third set, the second-seeded Vaqueras and fourth-seeded Roadrunners went back and forth until UTRGV couldn’t anymore.
Mitrovic, who had been playing with a partially torn rotator cuff over the past two seasons while putting off surgery and a six-month recovery process until her collegiate volleyball career was over, had nothing left in her arm. The three-time First Team All-WAC member and All-Tournament Team honoree gave everything she had for her team, which she helped propel to new heights over the last three years, reaching the first NCAA Tournament berth in program history by winning last season’s WAC Tournament.
The Serbian native finishes her career as the record holder in kills with 1,159, breaking former UTRGV right side hitter Alisha Watson’s record set just a season ago. She is also the all-time points leader at UTRGV with 1,329.5 and fourth on the all-time digs list with 760. While UTRGV only loses two players from this year’s squad in Mitrovic and Tina Sekulic, who ranks third all-time in assists, the pair will be hard to replace in the locker room, as the only two remaining players from Head Coach Todd Lowery’s last UT Brownsville team.
On Nov. 4, UTRGV honored the pair with Senior Day. He said the two were pivotal to the team’s success on the volleyball court over the last three seasons.
“They’re special kids in my heart,” he said. “Those kids took a chance at UTB. They knew they were coming to a program that was getting cut, they had other options, they had other places to go, they believed and trusted in me that they were going to go wherever I was going. They said, ‘We’re going to a junior college for one year if we have to, Coach.’ To have that loyalty from two kids is something special, and Bojana continues to get better on the court.
“Tina’s been a little bit behind the scenes this year, but she’s been a great key to this team and the culture of this team is so strong and she’s a big part of that. For a senior to come in and work every day in practice and accept a new role, I know that’s not easy for her. Ultimately, they understand what it is to be part of a team and part of a family and she’s really bought into that and I couldn’t be more proud of either one of those girls.”
Back next year for UTRGV is a team with plenty of valuable experience gained over the last two years. Vukoja, Ragni Steen Knudsen, co-captain Alexandra Ecker and Gysell Zayas all return for their senior seasons, while freshman starter Veronika Jandova will be back for her sophomore campaign. Silva will also be back as a junior and looks to build off another successful season, in which she earned Second Team All-WAC honors.
Knudsen also earned All-Tournament Team honors and was named First Team All-WAC. She finished with her 10th double-double of the season in the championship match with 18 kills and 11 digs, and a career high 26 kills in the semifinals win over Utah Valley University.
Knudsen is fourth on the all-time points list and ranks first in kills per set (3.60) and service aces per set (.33). Silva ranks seventh all-time in kills (527) and first in blocks per set (.96). Ecker is the all-time program leader in block assists (285) and second in total blocks (309).
In just one year, Zayas and her play from the libero position finished averaging 4.39 digs per set, which is second all-time, and is already ninth in digs with 483. Vukoja ranks first all-time in assists with 2,318, while Jandova is second in blocks per set (.89) and attack percentage (.309).
Now comes the offseason, which the UTRGV Volleyball Team will spend working to get back to its third straight tournament championship match in 2018.
