UTRGV wins five-set thriller

The UTRGV Volleyball Team beat the University of Louisiana Lafayette 3-2 tonight in its first home game of the season, winning the fifth set with a tight score of 15-12. 

 The Vaqueras (3-3) and the Ragin’ Cajuns (3-2) went blow for blow, exchanging sets throughout the night in front of a crowd of 753 in the UTRGV Fieldhouse for the first match of the UTRGV Tournament. 

“Awesome crowd, awesome atmosphere in there and what a way to start the homestretch with a five-setter and just a grind-it-out kind of match,” UTRGV Volleyball head coach Todd Lowery said. “Couldn’t be more thrilled for the girls to be honest with you. Because they did this last weekend and they grinded it out on the road and we just didn’t quite get over the hump. But for me, like I was proud of last weekend, and for them to have that feeling of getting a win from a five setter, one we really had to grind. I think that’s everything for me.” 

UTRGV won Sets 2, 4 and 5 with scores of 25-23, 25-21 and 15-12. 

He said as the game went on, the team’s confidence grew and got more aggressive with its serves and were able to score off them. 

Down 2-1 in sets going into the fourth, UTRGV took an early six-point lead at 9-3 and carried it to 25-21, which kept the Vaqueras alive for the fifth set. 

Asked what he told his team before Set 5, Lowery replied, “That we were gonna get one, you know. If we took care of the stuff that we talked about at the end of Set 4, that we were gonna win this fifth set.”

Junior right side hitter Sarah Cruz tallied a career-high 26 kills, 11 digs and 28 points.

“It’s amazing to have that crowd because last year, we weren’t able to have any crowd,” Cruz said. “So I think it really helps us to have that euphoria for the game, like people screaming [and]  getting hyped for us. I think it really helped us and we’re very happy that we won our first home game for our crowd.”

Louisiana won Set 1,  25-20 and Set 3, 27-25. 

Lowery said he felt UTRGV was in position to win Set 1, but the team let a couple of things go that they had planned for. 

Kristi Gray volleyball, head coach for the University of Louisiana Lafayette, told The Rider, the loss was on her team not being able to be in a position to play more consistently.

“We were up at times and then we just let up on the gas and we let them come back, and we have to play more consistent,” Gray said after the game.

Asked what she told her team before going into Set 5, Gray replied, “We have to just go in and we have to have more fight than them and, unfortunately, we just made not smart decisions in the end, which cost us the game.” 

The star for the Cajuns was Kelsey Bennett, who garnered 27 kills, 18 digs and 28.5 points. 

The UTRGV Volleyball Team will face off against the University of the Incarnate Word at 7 p.m. Friday in the UTRGV Fieldhouse.

They will also play Texas Southern University at 5 p.m. Saturday and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi at 1 p.m. Sunday in the Fieldhouse as part of the UTRGV Tournament.  

“This one was a big one for us, obviously, to get the first win under our belt and [University of the Incarnate Word] is a much-improved team,” Lowery said. “They’ve gotten off to a hot start. So, definitely, gonna have to have our heads on tomorrow night for that game and then again, Texas Southern on Saturday. 

“And then, of course, Corpus is a great team, and really going to challenge us with their ball control and how fast they play. But, I mean, to be fair, I thought Louisiana played pretty quick tonight. You know, everything’s inside, very similar to Corpus. So, the way we were able to handle this, I think, is gonna prepare us to be in a good position against Corpus on Sunday.”