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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Trailing 2-1, UTSA Volleyball ripped off a furious run to finish off a five-set win (25-19, 18-25, 24-26, 25-19, 15-13) at Charlotte, extending the Roadrunners winning streak to five, on Friday night.
UTSA (17-5, 7-1 Conference USA) faced a deep hole to Charlotte (13-11, 3-5 C-USA) after the 49ers took two of the first three games. The Roadrunners bounced back to force a fifth with a six-point win in the fourth and took the final two points in the fifth set for the narrow win.
The Roadrunners, who entered play on Friday night a game shy of the C-USA regular-season race, raced out to a first-set win after falling behind early but a second-set deficit was too much to take a lead, with the 49ers owning a 25-18 win. UTSA narrowly lost the third but bounced back to claim the fourth in strong fashion. Down 13-11 in the fifth set, UTSA ripped off a 4-0 run to end the match and post the game-winning rally.
UTSA was able to survive the win despite hitting .158 as a team, with 38 total errors. Charlotte was limited to a .136 hitting percentage, owning an 18-10 mark in blocks. The Runners hit .389 in the first set, before falling into negative hitting numbers in the second. A .194 team attack percentage in the fifth helped spur the narrow win.
Freshman Hannah Lopez had a team-high 17 kills, adding eight digs while hitting .145. Lopez was one of five UTSA players in double-digit kills, with Kara Teal adding 14 on a .273 hitting percentage, owning five blocks. Freshman Kirby Smith had 11 kills, sophomore Hannah Froeschl had 13 kills and five blocks and Brianna McCulloch had 13 kills. Senior Amanda Gonzales earned her seventh double-double of the year with 55 assists and 16 digs. Senior libero Shelby Williams had 35 digs and six assists. Montse Castro added five kills, with Ashley Dominguez owning a season-high 12 digs.
UTSA will return to action on Sunday, traveling to face Marshall at 11 a.m. CT in Huntington, W.Va.
In the first set, UTSA fell behind a quick 4-0 before Teal accounted for three straight points, including two kills and a block, to cut the lead to 4-3. Castro notched a pair of kills around five Charlotte points, with the 49ers owning a 9-5 lead after her second termination. Froeschl and Smith earned kills before Smith's first ace of the match cut it to 10-8. The first kill from Lopez cut the lead to 11-9 before Teal stuffed a block to spur a 7-0 run that saw UTSA take its first lead with a 17-14 mark. Teal accounted for three kills in the run, with Castro sporting one. Smith's kill and two from Froeschl lifted UTSA to a 20-17 lead, before Froeschl, Lopez and Smith accounted for a 3-0 run and a 23-19 lead. McCulloch's first kill gave UTSA set point and McCulloch and Teal teamed up on a block to finish off a 25-19 win.
The 49ers opened up with the first four points of the set before Castro got UTSA on the board. A block from Castro and Froeschl cut the lead to 3-6, with Froeschl's kill keeping it a two-point game. Charlotte then took control of the set, racing out to a 13-6 lead, forcing a timeout, and taking the lead as high as 21-9. Even with the margin, UTSA finished on an 8-4 run in a 25-18 loss, with UTSA getting key kills from Froeschl, Lopez, Gonzales and Kenedi Rutherford, and an ace from Mia Ybarra.
UTSA took an early lead in the third behind back-to-back kills from Froeschl and Teal for a 4-2 lead. Lopez keep the lead at 5-4 and 6-5 with go-ahead kills, with McCulloch giving UTSA a 7-6 lead, before tying it at nine. Two terminations from Teal and one from Lopez saw the Runners stretch their lead to 15-12 and force a 49ers timeout. Charlotte notched the next four points for a lead before consecutive kills from McCulloch gave the Runners the lead 17-16. Back-to-back points from Froeschl gave UTSA a 19-18 lead and Williams notched an ace as the set worked to even at 22-22. The teams traded the next four points before consecutive points for Charlotte gave the 49ers a 26-24 win.
The Roadrunners took seven of the first nine points to open the fourth set, getting kills from Smith, Teal and Gonzales during the stretch. Two kills from Lopez put the UTSA lead at 9-4 and Smith earned a pair of kills for a 14-5 lead. Lopez lifted UTSA to an 18-10 advantage and UTSA was able to finish off a 25-19 win after a 3-0 run from the 49ers narrowed it to five.
The first three points of the decisive fifth set came from the 49ers, but UTSA raced back with four straight, including a kill from Teal and two from Smith. The Runners got to eight after kills from Teal and Lopez for an 8-5 advantage. Charlotte notched the next two points to cut the led to one before Lopez and McCulloch's consecutive kills put UTSA up 10-7. Charlotte then ripped off four straight points to take a 13-11 lead. McCulloch answered to spark a 4-0, game-winning rally, with Smith's kill finishing the win.
- UTSA -
