BATON ROUGE, La. — UTSA closed out play at the Tigers Classic on Saturday by splitting a pair of matches. The Roadrunners (1-2) notched their first win of the season with a 3-1 triumph against UC Davis (25-21, 25-23, 23-25, 25-18) after opening the day with a 3-1 setback to San Diego State (25-19, 25-23, 23-25, 25-19).
UTSA will open its home slate at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 5 when it hosts Lamar (1-3) in the first game of the UTSA Classic.
UTSA 3, UC Davis 1 (25-21, 25-23, 23-25, 25-18)
McKenzie Adams recorded her third double-double of the weekend with 23 kills and 18 digs, while Dempsey Thornton added 14 winners and UTSA topped UC Davis by scores of 25-21, 25-23, 23-25 and 25-18 in its Tigers Classic finale.
Brandy Huskey paced the offense with 52 assists, as the Roadrunners hit .275 in the match. Meanwhile, Annie Kunes led all players with 23 digs.
Devon Damelio and Kaylin Squyres paced the Aggies (0-3), who hit just .173, with 13 kills apiece.
The first set featured 15 ties and nine lead changes with the final tie coming at 20-all after an Adams winner. The senior picked up another point before an ace by Erin Foley forced a UC Davis timeout.
The teams traded serves before UTSA finished off the set with three consecutive points on kills by Tessa Dahnert, Jordan Kotara and Adams.
The Roadrunners trailed 17-14 midway through the second set before rallying to edge the Aggies by a pair of points.
A kill from Thornton started a 6-2 run that gave UTSA a 20-19 advantage. The Corpus Christi native picked up two kills during the run, which was aided by three UC Davis errors. UTSA did not trail again in the set and it held off a late charge from the Aggies.
The Roadrunners erased an early 4-0 deficit in the third stanza and tied the score four different times, but they could not take the lead and the Aggies scored four of the next five points for a 24-21 lead. A Kasey Kiefer kill and Kunes ace pulled UTSA to within a point, but Holland Seymour’s winner ended the comeback bid.
The Roadrunners jumped ahead 15-11 in the final frame and never looked back.
Led by four kills from Adams, UTSA hit .520 to go along with six blocks in the set and a pair of Aggies errors ignited a late 5-2 run, which clinched the victory.
San Diego State 3, UTSA 1 (25-19, 25-23, 23-25, 25-19)
Adams registered a match-high 23 kills, but San Diego State had four players in double digits and the Aztecs downed the Roadrunners in four sets (25-19, 25-23, 23-25, 25-19).
Summer Nash paced San Diego State (2-0) with 21 kills, while Emily Harris (12), Raegan Shelton (12) and Chaiymin Steel (11) also ended up in double figures.
Adams hit .333 for the match and added 10 digs for her second double-double in as many matches of the young season for the Roadrunners (0-2). Dajana Boskovic finished with nine kills and Kunes led the defensive effort with a match-high 26 digs.
The teams traded points to start the first set until the Aztecs got some separation on back-to-back kills from Harris and Nash for a 14-11 advantage. The Roadrunners picked up two of the next three points on winners from Boskovic to pull to within two (15-13), but San Diego State answered with six unanswered to pull away.
UTSA scored three consecutive times on set point before Nash closed it out with a kill from Johnna Fouch.
The Aztecs scored 10 of the first 15 points in the second set and led 14-9 following a kill by Harris. UTSA came back with three straight points to force a San Diego State timeout.
San Diego State quickly rebuilt its lead to five, 20-15, only to see the Roadrunners come back thanks to back-to-back kills by Adams and a pair of Aztecs errors. UTSA pulled to within a point three times down the stretch, but it could not come up with the equalizer, as Steel finished off the set with a kill to put the Aztecs up 2-0 at intermission.
UTSA broke a 14-all tie in the third set with a pair of Boskovic kills and an Adams winner for a 17-14 lead. A Dempsey Thornton kill followed by a San Diego State error pushed the UTSA cushion to 20-16 and the Roadrunners led 24-20 before the Aztecs made a late push with winners from Nash and Harris. However, the Birds closed out the set and avoided a sweep when an Adams attack hit the deck.
The fourth set featured 12 ties and three lead changes before San Diego State closed out the match with a 7-1 run. A kill by Adams knotted the score at 18 before UTSA service and attack errors ignited the match-ending run.