UTRGV advances to championship match to face upset-minded California State University, Bakersfield tonight at 7
The WAC Tournament Championship stage is set. For the second year in a row, No. 2 UTRGV (17-11) has worked its way into the finals and has the opportunity to go back to back like Drake did Meek. They will face off against No. 4 CSUB (18-13) in the finals at 7 tonight in the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
The Vaqueras outlasted No. 3 Utah Valley University 3-1 (29-27, 21-25, 26-24, 25-21) in the semifinals yesterday, as UVU pushed UTRGV in each set, refusing to go away quietly. The first set was an intense back-and-forth contest between third and fourth seeds and saw UTRGV lose a six point lead. The Vaqueras fought back led by 10 kills from Ragni Steen Knudsen in the opening set to take a 1-0 lead.
UVU responded with big plays from their middle blocker Madison Dennison and outside hitters Lexi Thompson and Kristen Allred to take the second set and even the match at 1-1.
With momentum up for grabs in the third set, UTRGV again needed extra points to top UVU 26-24 to jump out to a 2-1 lead. That momentum gained allowed the UTRGV home crowd to get behind their Vaqueras in the fourth set, who punched their ticket to the championship match for the second year in row.
Knudsen finished with a career-high 26 kills while Barbara Mitrovic finished with her 14th double-double of the year with 18 kills and 14 digs. Dubravka Vukoja posted a career-high 60 assists while Alexandra Ecker broke the all-time program record for block assists (277).
UTRGV Head Coach Todd Lowery said he felt they didn’t play their best in sets two and three, but were able to come together at the end to pull out the victory led by Knudsen’s career-high.
“She’s quietly really good every single night and tonight she just let it rip,” Lowery said. “She’s our conference MVP in our mind and she’s been great all year long so it was nice to see her come up big tonight. A lot of hard work all year long from our girls and part being in shape, I thought our match came down to that at the end.”
CSUB entered its semifinal meeting against New Mexico State University having been swept twice by the Aggies in their two meetings earlier this year, but the upset-minded Roadrunners had other plans and knocked of the No. 1 seed 3-1 (25-22, 25-20, 20-25, 25-17). CSUB came out with more energy and used that to jump out to a 2-0 lead led by Aleksand Djordjevic and Mattison DeGarmo, who combined for 25 kills in the match.
UTRGV and CSUB have met twice this year, each winning on their home floor. The Vaqueras were victorious in a 3-1 victory on Oct. 14, while the Roadrunners won the second match 3-2 on Nov. 9.
Lowery said UTRGV will need his girls will need to play with confidence and emotion as they did in the semifinals against a tough CSUB team.
“A lot of emotion again,” Lowery said. “We’re going to have to wither the storm from them early on. They have an unbelievable ability to get up at the end of the year, and I think anybody who watched the first match saw that. They just played on raw emotion and hung with New Mexico State early on first 15 points, then all of a sudden things start rolling their way and emotion builds and they did some nice things and NMSU wasn’t able to respond.”
The two will meet with the WAC Tournament Championship on the line and a berth in the NCAA Tournament tonight at 7 in the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
WAC Tournament action underway at UTRGV
WACtion kicked off Thursday with the start of the 2017 Western Athletic Conference Tournament as No. 4 seed California State University, Bakersfield topped No. 5 seed Seattle University 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-17) to advance to the semifinals, setting up a match with No. 1 seed New Mexico State University.
Aleksand Djordjevic led the CSUB Roadrunners with 10 kills and 10 digs to record a double-double as they kept a slim lead throughout the first two matches. In the third set, the Roadrunners turned it up a notch to wrap up the set with a 25-17 win. Maja Stojanovic led SU with seven kills.
With the win, CSUB advances to take on the NMSU Roadrunners at 4:30 p.m. today in the UTRGV Fieldhouse. The Aggies swept the Roadrunners in their two meetings earlier this season.
In the second match of day one, No. 3 Utah Valley University knocked off upset-minded No. 6 University of Missouri-Kansas City 3-1 (24-26, 25-22, 25-20, 25-20). UMKC came storming out of the gates in the first set, upsetting UVU 26-24 as Alicia Harrington and Mykal Sadler found holes in the Wolverine defense.
The Wolverines responded with a furious attack spearheaded by Lexi Thompson and Madison Dennison to even the match at one set apiece with a 25-22 victory in the second set. UVU went on to win the next two sets and the match as Sierra Starley finished with 38 assists and 13 digs, while Thompson posted a double-double with 13 kills and 10 digs. Dennison led the Wolverines with 17 kills.
Utah Valley advances to the semis to take on tournament host UTRGV, who is 2-0 against the Wolverines this season. The Vaqueras won in Utah 3-1 (24-26, 25-21, 25-12, 25-21) on Oct. 5 and swept UVU in Edinburg on Nov. 4, which was Senior Day, 3-0 (25-19, 26-24, 25-19).
UTRGV and UVU are scheduled to start play at 7 tonight in the UTRGV Fieldhouse with a spot in the WAC Tournament Championship on the line.
Conference honors handed out
Three members of the UTRGV Volleyball Team earned All-WAC honors for their play on the court this season. Senior outside hitter Bojana Mitrovic and junior outside hitter Ragni Steen Knudsen were both selected to the All-WAC First Team, while sophomore outside hitter/middle blocker Barbara Silva was named to the All-WAC Second Team.
Mitrovic’s selection to the All-WAC First Team is her third in a row. The senior and emotional leader of the UTRGV Volleyball Team posted 13 double-doubles on the year, totaling 319 kills and 270 digs.
Knudsen led UTRGV in kills with 377 and was third on the team with 219 on the season. She tied a season-conference high with 25 kills and four serving aces. The junior also double-doubled nine times this season.
Silva, who earned All-WAC Freshman Team honors a year ago, followed that up with another successful season, averaging 2.84 kills, 0.94 digs and 0.66 blocks per set. The sophomore led UTRGV twice in blocks and twice in kills in matches this season.
The UTRGV Volleyball Team will take on Utah Valley University at 7 p.m. tonight in the UTRGV Fieldhouse in the semifinals of the WAC Tournament.
