Roadrunners to travel to UTEP for Sunday matchup

SAN ANTONIO — UTSA will travel to UTEP for the first time since 1995 for a Sunday tilt with the Miners. First serve is scheduled for 1 p.m. (CT) at Memorial Gym.

Both teams enter Sunday’s contest with aspirations for the regular season Conference USA crown.

UTSA (15-7, 7-1 C-USA) has won seven of its eight conference matches this season and trails first-place Tulsa by only a half match with only six contests remaining on the ledger. Tulsa will travel to the Alamo City for the regular season finale on Nov. 17.

Meanwhile, UTEP (12-8, 5-3 C-USA) currently sits in sixth place following Friday’s home loss to UAB, but the Miners still are in position to fight for one of the four first-round byes in the league tournament with an outside shot at the regular season title.  

Preseason C-USA Player of the Year McKenzie Adams enters the home stretch of her storied UTSA career ranked second nationally in kills per set (5.32) and third in points per set (5.76). Adams also sits at No. 11 nationally in career kills and career kills per set among active players.

Sunday’s matchup will pit UTSA’s reigning C-USA Defensive Player of the Week Tessa Dahnert with last week’s Offensive Player of the Week, UTEP's Xitlali Herrera.

Dahnert posted 11 blocks in the Roadrunners' home victories against Rice and North Texas to keep UTSA at No. 2 in the team standings. The freshman accounted for nine of UTSA’s 18 team blocks in Friday’s five-set victory over the Owls.

Herrera ranks second in the circuit and 29th nationally in kills per set (4.25) and has seen her production increase in conference matches with 4.28 kills per set.

The Roadrunners will be looking for their first win at UTEP since Nov. 3, 1990.