Sophomore setter Luanna Emiliano sets the ball for sophomore middle blocker Margherita Giani. The game ended with the Vaqueras winning 3-2 making the UTRGV season record 17-4 and 6-0 in the Western Athletic Conference, and New Mexico’s 10-7 and 3-3 in the WAC. JOSE MEDINA/THE RIDER PHOTOS
The UTRGV Volleyball Team beat New Mexico State University 3-2 after a close but energized game in front of a crowd of over a thousand people.
The Vaqueras are 17-4 overall and are undefeated 6-0 in Western Athletic Conference games while New Mexico State is 10-7 overall and 3-3 in conference.
“We talked about this at the beginning of the year, ‘How do we build momentum with the crowd leading up to us hosting the [Western Athletic Conference] tournament?’” Head Coach Todd Lowery said. “And one of the things we talked about is, I think, a lot of it goes to the girls. They deserve a lot of credit for the crowd because this is probably the most engaging group of college athletes you’re gonna find, I mean, they love the crowd.”
The Vaqueras won the first set 25-17 in a crowd-pumping set. The Aggies started strong but lost momentum and were beaten by UTRGV.
“I felt like we went to sleep, and [New] Mexico State’s a great team, but they don’t play with a lot of emotion,” Lowery said. “And I felt like [against] Sam Houston, we got over emotional. And then, here, we got under emotional. So, we really just challenged them, like, ‘Hey, we’re gonna take one on the chin.’ And, man, they just came out, one hustle play after another just to get us on a little bit of a spark. And then, they started serving more aggressive and really got us rolling.”
The second set was close at 25-24 but New Mexico State scored the set point tying the score 1-1. After a hard-fought third set, the Aggies beat the Vaqueras 25-22, bringing the score to 2-1.
“I think we came back after the second set, we kind of relaxed after the second set,” UTRGV outside hitter Sarah Cruz said. “And then, we kind of picked it up after the third set. So we’re very happy that we won the game. I think we put a lot of effort in the fifth set as well. I don’t think we let any ball drop and we were fighting for every ball. So, I think that was great.”
UTRGV dominated the fourth set, beating New Mexico State 25-14 and tying the match once more 2-2.
“I think I was just feeling the energy and trying to give them the energy necessary to win,” UTRGV sophomore setter Luanna Emiliano said. “I tried to give every player the best ball to swing and to get [a] score. I just did my job. I think [the team] did their job and everybody was together.”
The Vaqueras defended their undefeated WAC record this season finishing off the Aggies 15-9 in the final set securing the win.
The Vaqueras will play Grand Canyon University at 8 p.m. Thursday in Phoenix, Arizona.
For more information, visit goutrgv.com.
