The most successful season in UTRGV volleyball history came to an end with a 0-3 (24-26, 25-27, 19-25) loss to the Davidson Wildcats in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) quarterfinals on Thursday at the John M. Belk Arena in Davidson, North Carolina.
The Vaqueros (27-7) complete their third NCAA Division I postseason appearance with their first two postseason victories in program history.
The UTRGV volleyball team is the university’s first to win multiple postseason events since 1983, when the baseball team won two games at the NCAA regionals.
UTRGV finished the season with a program record 27 wins, including a program record 10 road wins, a program record 13 home wins, a program record-tying 13 conference wins, and a program record seven conference road wins. The 27 wins currently makes UTRGV one of the 16 winningest teams in the NCAA.
In this match, sophomore Luanna Emiliano dished out 33 assists to break the single-season program record in assists, finishing with 1,348. The previous record was 1,335 by Katie Burke in 2002. Emiliano also had 11 digs for her 24th double-double. Emiliano finished the season averaging 10.78 assists per set, the third-highest total in program history. Emiliano now has 2,405-career assists, the third-highest total in program history. For her career, Emiliano is averaging 10.37 assists per set, the second-best mark.
Graduate student Sarah Cruz recorded a team-high 12 kills to finish with a single-season program record 538 kills, an average of 4.24 kills per set, the third-best mark. The Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year and an All-Region Honorable Mention selection, Cruz finishes her career with 1,428 kills, the second-highest total in program history, an average of 3.61 kills per set, which also ranks second. She also averaged 0.30 aces per set, the seventh-best mark in program history.
Junior Luisa Silva Dos Santos recorded six kills and two blocks. She finishes the season hitting a program record .340, breaking the previous record of .320 set by Lisa Yanez in 1996. Santos also finished with 110 blocks, the sixth-highest single-season total in program history, 95 of which were block assists, which ranks tied for fifth. For her career, Santos is now averaging 0.905 blocks per set, the third-best mark in program history.
Sophomore Margherita Giani posted seven kills on .417 hitting. Sophomore Perris Key finished with six kills and 10 digs. Junior Regina Tijerina posted 10 digs with three assists.
Isabel Decker led the Wildcats (23-10) with 14 kills. Anela Davis recorded nine kills on .667 hitting. Emma Slusser finished with nine kills. Bella Brady finished with 24 digs, six assists and four aces.
A pair of Cruz kills helped the Vaqueros build a 10-6 lead in the opening set. The Wildcats followed with a 7-3 run to pull even at 13. Two serves later, the Wildcats went on a 9-3 run to go up 22-18. Two Cruz kills and an Emiliano ace helped the Vaqueros score four-straight points to tie the set. The Vaqueros pulled even again at 23 on a Cruz kill and 24 on a Giani kill before back-to-back Slusser kills ended the set.
Cruz came up with a pair of kills to help the Vaqueros jump out to a 5-2 lead in set two. The Vaqueros maintained that lead until about midway through the set, when with the score 14-11, the Wildcats went on a 7-0 run to take the lead. The Vaqueros responded by scoring the next five points as part of a 7-2 run to take a 21-19 lead. The Vaqueros reached set point at 24-22 on a kill by junior Ioanna Charitonidi. The Wildcats won the next three serves to reach set point themselves before another Charitonidi kill gave the Vaqueros tied the set at 25. The Wildcats, however, scored the final two points to win the set.
Kills by Giani and Key helped the Vaqueros to leads of 3-0 and 4-1 to start set three. The Vaqueros still had the lead at 8-7, but the Wildcats followed with a 5-1 run to take the lead for the rest of the match.
