| Sophomore Kendra Rowland had her 15th double-double of the year on Saturday. |
SAN ANTONIO ? Sophomore outside hitter Kendra Rowland posted her team-leading 15th double-double of the year and UTSA held off a late Southeastern Louisiana rally for a 17-25, 25-17, 25-20, 15-25, 15-7 victory in Saturday's home finale at the Convocation Center.
The Roadrunners, who won for the seventh time in the last nine matches, improved to 18-10 overall and 10-4 in Southland Conference play in defeating the Lady Lions (9-16, 3-11 SLC) for the fifth consecutive time in the all-time series.
UTSA got off to a rocky start, hitting just .067 in the opening set, while Southeastern racked up five team blocks. However, the Birds responded by registering swing percentages of .387 and .341 the following two stanzas and they looked to be on their way to a four-set win.
UTSA held an 11-10 lead in the fourth frame, but the Lady Lions closed out the stanza with a 15-4 run to send the match to a fifth-and-deciding set. The Roadrunners jumped out to a 9-4 advantage in the final frame and never looked back in matching the second-highest win total during head coach Laura Neugebauer-Groff's seven-year tenure.
Rowland led UTSA with a match-high 15 winners and she added 15 digs, while freshman outside hitter Elise Huskey had a double-double of 14 kills and 13 digs. Freshman libero Kelsey Jewasko collected a match-best 18 digs, while junior middle hitter Stefanie Robbins had 11 kills and five total blocks.
Jessica Srajer led the Lady Lions with 15 kills and a .324 hitting percentage.
UTSA is back in action on Thursday night when it travels north to face I-35 rival Texas State in a 7 p.m. contest at Strahan Coliseum.