For the sixth time in program history, the UTRGV Volleyball Team qualified for the Western Athletic Conference Tournament, which will take place this week at Lockhart Arena in Orem, Utah.
“We’ve been super up and down this year,” Head Coach Todd Lowery said. “I think we see flashes of brilliance with this team and I think anything can happen at the WAC Tournament. We’re looking to finish up these last two games. We think we finally figured out a rotation that we like.”
The first match of the quarterfinal round is slated for 4:30 p.m. Thursday with the fourth seed facing off against the fifth seed. The game will be followed by match two at 7 p.m., in which the third seed will play against the sixth seed.
Semifinal rounds will take place with games three and four Friday. The winner of match one will face off against the No. 1 seed in match three at 4:30 p.m. At 7 p.m., the winner of match two will battle the No. 2 seed.
The championship game will take place at 8 p.m. Saturday. The winner will represent the WAC at the NCAA Tournament Round of 64 on Dec. 6.
Last year, UTRGV became the WAC regular season champions for the first time in program history and went into the tournament as the No. 1 seed. At the WAC Tournament, UTRGV went directly to the semifinal match, where it fell to Utah Valley 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-23).
In order to move on in the WAC Tournament, UTRGV will need to play as a team.
“It’s going to take a team effort,” Lowery said. “We don’t have one person on this team that can go out and carry us through matches, so we need to get a little bit more from everybody.”
As of last Thursday, UTRGV was fourth in WAC standings. The team played its last regular season game last Saturday against Chicago State University. Results and new standings were unavailable as of press time.
