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SAN ANTONIO -- UTSA volleyball got a strong performance from juniors Brianna McCulloch and Kara Teal in a three-set sweep (25-15, 25-20, ) of UTEP in the regular-season finale, on Saturday afternoon at the Convocation Center.
UTSA (19-7, 11-3 Conference USA) won its third straight to finish the year in a tie for second in the league standings. The Runners used a strong opening set, hitting .300 as a team, to coast to the three-set result over UTEP (5-18, 2-11 C-USA).
Rice (12-1) owns the league regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the ensuing C-USA Tournament. UTSA will return to action in the C-USA Championships, hosted by Marshall in Huntington, W.Va., Nov. 16-18.
The Roadrunners honored its trio of seniors in the win, including setter Ashley Gonzales, defensive specialist Ashley Dominguez and libero Shelby Williams.
McCulloch notched her 14th match of the year with double-digit kills, leading the team with 12, adding three digs and two blocks. Teal added eight kills on just 14 swings, hitting .500, while adding two digs and two blocks.
Freshmen Hannah Lopez and Kirby Smith shined, with four digs. Sophomore Hannah Froeschl had five kills and four blocks and junior Montse Castro added four kills. Gonzales, a native of New Braunfels, Texas, led UTSA with 23 assists, adding six digs. A native of New Braunfels, Williams had six digs and freshman Mia Perales finished with 14 assists and seven digs.
Smith opened the match with the first points but UTEP earned the following three. UTSA rallied with a 3-0 run, getting kills from Teal and McCulloch to take a 6-3 lead. Consecutive kills from Lopez put the Runners up 8-3 and McCulloch's second termination put UTSA up 9-5. Two of the next three went to UTSA, including a kill from Froeschl and Lopez. UTSA took a four-point lead after the second kill of the match from Smith and stretched the lead to 14-9 after a nifty dig from Dominguez kept the point alive for a Smith kill. Dominguez went fully extended on the next point to help push UTSA to a 15-9 lead. A 4-0 run, fueled by a block from Teal and consecutive service aces from Smith, put UTSA up 19-10. Teal's third kill put UTSA up 20-11 and big swings from McCulloch and Froeschl stretched the lead to 22-12. Froeschl gave UTSA set point with her second kill and Kenedi Rutherford's first kill gave UTSA the first set, 25-15.
McCulloch accounted for three kills in the first four UTSA points of the set as UTSA and UTEP traded the first eight points until a strong service from Perales led to a 5-4 lead. Dominguez earned her first ace of the year to put UTSA up 8-7. Froeschl's third kill put UTSA even at nine and McCulloch's dig landed off the edge of the net and fell to the floor for the kill, her eighth. Teal finished a long rally o put UTSA up 14-12. UTEP then earned seven of the next 11 points to take a 19-18 lead into a UTSA timeout. UTSA answered out of the break with three straight, including an ace from Williams. UTSA took the next four points to earn a 24-20 lead and finished off the
The teams traded the first two points, with Smith's sixth kill of the day getting UTSA on the board. Kills from Teal and McCulloch put UTSA up 4-3. The Runners used three of the next four points to take a 10-6 lead. Consecutive kills from Smith and Teal put UTSA up 12-7. A 4-0 run from UTEP cut the lead to 12-11 and forced the first timeout of the set from Coach Laura Neugebauer-Groff. After the set was even at 12, UTSA notched consecutive points, including a kill from McCulloch for a 14-12 lead. McCulloch's 12th kill put UTSA up 16-14. After UTEP took a 19-18 lead the first kill of the day from Skyeler Embry evened it at 19. Castro's third kill put UTSA up 20-19 and a Williams ace stretched the lead to 21-19. Castro's fourth kill put UTSA up 22-19 with the Runners able to edge out the final three points needed for the win, highlighted by a monster termination from Lopez.
- UTSA -
