SAN ANTONIO — The UTSA volleyball program wrapped up the 2023 Cardinal Classic in style, sweeping Oral Roberts 25-11, 25-15, 25-22 at the McDermott Center in what represented the 100th career victory for head coach Carol Price-Torok.
“Honestly, I was surprised. It's not something I was keeping track of, but I'm excited about this program and where we're going,” said coach Price-Torok after her 100th win. “It's easy to show up every day and coach them. So, I'm looking forward to many more wins, and I'm excited to share the milestone with this group.”
The Roadrunners (7-4, 0-0 AAC) logged their second sweep of Cardinal Classic, taking down the Golden Eagles (2-9, 0-0 SL) and posting a .409 hitting percentage. Sophomore Mia Soerensen once again led the 'Runners in kills with 13 terminations at a .400 clip, while classmate Katelyn Krienke was not far behind, boasting 12 at .667. Freshman Makenna Wiepert led the contest in assists, issuing 39, while senior Aliah Giroux boasted the most digs with 16.
“It's always nice to get wins, but we really finished strong mentally in the third set today,” Price-Torok continued. “We just need to continue to carry the momentum of what we're doing and why we're doing it and stay on edge from an execution standpoint as we get ready for Charlotte.”
The Roadrunners came out hot in the first set, taking an 8-3 advantage before a 6-2 run featuring kills by senior Cansu Günaydin, Krienke, junior Faye Wilbricht, and Soerensen that saw a 16-6 UTSA edge. Shortly after, Günaydin recorded her fourth termination of the frame, and a Golden Eagles miscue handed the Roadrunners a commanding 25-11 set victory.
Things were much closer to begin the second set, as the scoreboard read 6-5 in favor of UTSA. The Roadrunners then claimed five of the subsequent six rallies, with a Wilbricht kill affording the squad an 11-6 lead. From there, senior Alicia Coppedge and Wilbricht each recorded multiple kills en route to a 15-8 edge that forced an ORU timeout. Four consecutive points for UTSA extended the Roadrunner advantage to nine and saw a 20-11 score line. ORU didn't go quietly, cutting the deficit to seven, leading to a UTSA timeout. The 'Runners then took five of the final six rallies as a Golden Eagle error capped off the stanza.
ORU got off to a strong start in the third, working a 10-6 lead ahead of a Soerensen kill that trimmed their deficit to two. The Golden Eagles kept the Roadrunners at arm's length for the majority of the set until another termination for Soerensen put UTSA down by one. With ORU up 19-18, the teams exchanged blows before a Krienke kill knotted the contest at 22. A Günaydin kill and an attacking error for ORU then had UTSA one score away from a sweep. Krienke then put the finishing touches on the match, rifling one final kill over the net.
The Roadrunners will now move onto conference play, as they face Charlotte in the program's inaugural American Athletic Conference match on Wednesday at 5 p.m. in North Carolina before hosting SMU at the Convocation Center at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Keep up with UTSA Volleyball all season long on goutsa.com, and by following the program on Facebook at /UTSAVBall, X (Twitter) @UTSAVolleyball, and on Instagram @utsa_vb.
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