KANSAS CITY, Mo. - In the first semifinal match of the WAC Tournament Friday, No. 2-seed CSU Bakersfield swept sixth-seeded UT Rio Grande Valley (25-19, 25-22, 30-28) to advance to the championship match for the third year in a row.
Kelsee Sawyer led all players with 17 kills on .533 hitting to pace CSU Bakersfield. Carol Grasso added nine kills and 13 digs. Luiza Martins was just shy of a double-double, finishing with 39 assists, nine digs, three kills and two blocks.
The Vaqueros were led by Bojana Mitrovic with 16 kills, while Haley Durham added 12 kills and three solo blocks. Dubravka Vukoja dished out 32 assists to go along with eight digs and five blocks.
After an early tie in the first set, CSU Bakersfield led for the remainder of the set, winning 25-19. The Roadrunners had 13 kills on .267 hitting in the set, with all 13 kills coming off assists by Martins.
In set two, the Vaqueros led 8-4 early before CSUB tied it at eight. After five more ties, UTRGV rattled off five straight points to take an 18-13 lead. The momentum then shifted the Roadrunners' way, as CSUB closed out the set on a 12-4 run to take the second set 25-22.
In the final set, there were 10 ties before CSUB took a three-point lead, 20-17, forcing a UTRGV timeout. The Vaqueros trailed 21-23 when kills by Mitrovic and Durham and a block by Alexandra Ecker and Vukoja brought them to set point, but a Grasso kill tied it at 24. There were then ties at 25, 26, 27 and 28 before kills by Sawyer and Grasso ended the match.