SAN ANTONIO — Head coach Laura Neugebauer-Groff picked up win No. 200 as head coach of the Roadrunners in a sweep of Florida International (25-16, 25-23, 25-19) on Friday night in the Conference USA home opener for UTSA.
Preseason C-USA Player of the Year McKenzie Adams connected for a match-high 16 kills for the Roadrunners (11-6, 3-0 C-USA) and Dajana Boskovic pitched in another 13 to secure Groff’s milestone victory. Brandy Huskey had 28 assists and Annie Kunes tallied 15 digs to round out the category leaders.
The newly minted Conference USA squads opened the first set going back and forth to a 7-7 tie but it was all Roadrunners from there. Boskovic laced a kill from the right side between a pair of winners from Adams and UTSA reeled off 18 of the final 27 points to secure the 1-0 advantage. Adams and Boskovic each tallied a set-high five kills for UTSA. The Birds hit .357 and limited the Panthers to a .167 hitting percentage.
Carrying the momentum from a dominant first set, UTSA continued its offensive onslaught with a 10-3 run to open the second stanza. The Panthers battled back to within one at 20-19 but were unable to get over the hump. Adams continued her impressive evening with another eight kills to pace the Roadrunners offensive attack. Brandy Husky dished out 15 assists.
The Roadrunners polished off the victory with a late comeback in the final set. Trailing 19-18, Paige Hamilton served seven consecutive points including two aces to finish off the Panthers.
FIU (7-8, 1-2 C-USA) got nine kills each from Kimberly Smith and Ksenia Sukhareva in the losing effort.
UTSA will look to increase its winning streak to four when it hosts Florida Atlantic at noon, Sunday in the Convocation Center.