Ten teams have entered the Fieldhouse this year to challenge UTRGV and 10 teams have been sent home with another “L” in the loss column when they were done.
The UTRGV Volleyball Team claimed another two victims as they knocked off Seattle University 3-2 (21-25, 21-25, 25-16, 25-16, 15-7) on Thursday and Utah Valley University 3-0 (25-19, 26-24, 25-19) on Saturday.
On Saturday, seniors Bojana Mitrovic and Tina Sekulic were honored for their four years spent playing under Head Coach Todd Lowery, one at the University of Texas at Brownsville and three at UTRGV. Lowery said the two girls helped create a positive culture that turned UTB and now UTRGV into winners on and off the court.
“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, and they believed and trusted in me that they were going wherever I was going. To have that loyalty from two kids is something special.”
The team honored them by making quick work of UVU in a sweep, in which Mitrovic posted her 12th double-double of the year with 14 kills and 21 digs and sophomore Barbara Silva fell one short of her career high in kills with 17.
“I knew we were going to come out here and be good, especially after the game against Seattle,” Mitrovic said. “I think we did a great job picking it up and finally playing as a team, which we were kind of slacking these past couple of weeks. I think the only reason I got my double-double and Barbara got her kills is because we play team volleyball and we cover each other up. To be honest, I wasn’t even following the score, if you ask me any time of the game what was the score, I didn’t know, I just really enjoyed playing.”
Senior rightside hitter Bojana Mitrovic poses with Brenda Henderson (from left), Dragon Markovic, Vanja Joksic, Missy Lowery and Head Coach Todd Lowery as she is recognized as a graduating senior prior to the match against Utah Valley on Saturday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
Silva said the team’s performance came from wanting to send the two seniors off with a good regular-season home win on their special day.
“Especially when Tina had to talk with her parents, I started crying with them,” Silva said. “It was emotional a little bit for me. Bojana, she is a big part of my life right now. All of us went into this like let’s play for them because it’s their day, so let’s have a really good time.”
On Thursday, it took a come-from-behind effort to remain unbeaten in the Fieldhouse as SU jumped up two sets on UTRGV. That’s when the Vaqueros flipped the script and won the next three sets by nine, nine and eight points.
After the senior day match and sealing the perfect unbeaten regular season at home, Mitrovic said she was proud of how far the program has come in her four years.
“I was very excited and also proud of how far the program has came,” she said. “A flashback went through my head like where we were and where we are today, and it was amazing really. I’m excited for the tournament, the ceremony was very nice and I was happy a lot of my friends were here.”
The UTRGV Volleyball Team is prepared for the final weekend of regular season conference play as they visit California State University, Bakersfield at 9 p.m. Thursday and Grand Canyon University 2 p.m. on Saturday. The games can be seen on the WAC Digital Network.
UTRGV will host the WAC Volleyball Tournament Nov. 16-18 in the UTRGV Fieldhouse and has locked up a top-three finish.
