EDINBURG — The UTRGV women’s volleyball team captured its first two NCAA Division I postseason victories in program history last weekend and will look to keep its run alive in the quarterfinal round of the Women’s National Invitational Volleyball Championship.
The Vaqueros (27-6) are slated to take on Davidson (22-10) in the NIVC quarterfinals at 6 tonight at John M. Belk Arena in Davidson, North Carolina. The winner advances to the NIVC semifinals to face the winner of Thursday’s quarterfinal matchup between Drake (28-7) and Pacific (18-13).
“It’s special, you know. I think the girls have really settled in and kind of the postseason pressure is off a little bit now,” UTRGV head coach Todd Lowery said. “I think we’ve seen that, and we saw that on Saturday. Throughout this week of practice, they’re just really enjoying it now, and for me, I’m just happy for them and proud of them, and it extends our season a little bit more.”
The Vaqueros earned their way into the quarterfinals with a Round 1 win over Houston Christian 3-1 (21-25, 26-24, 25-23, 25-22) and a Round 2 sweep against South Dakota State (25-19, 25-23, 25-16).
The Davidson Wildcats defeated North Dakota State in Round 1 and Wake Forest in Round 2, both in five sets.
“We’ve watched them a couple times now, and they’re really consistent. They play kind of like (Stephen F. Austin) and (Grand Canyon) teams in our conference where they just don’t beat themselves,” Lowery said. “They’re well-coached, and I think our goal will be we’re going to have to limit our mistakes and we’re going to have to go out and earn points. They’re not going to give us a whole bunch of points, so that will be key for us, is how do we limit our mistakes, the points that we give away, and how much pressure we can really put on them offensively.”
UTRGV’s NIVC quarterfinal match against Davidson can be streamed online on ESPN+, ESPN’s streaming platform.
