LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Fifth-seeded UT Rio Grande Valley defeated No. 4 seed UMKC in five sets (21-25, 33-31, 25-13, 23-25, 20-18) in the first round of the WAC Tournament Thursday. The Vaqueros now advance to the semifinals where they will face top-seeded NM State on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
With the win, UTRGV tied the NCAA Division I program record for wins at 19 and assured itself the highest winning percentage in NCAA DI program history. UTRGV outhit UMKC .351 to .268 on the match. The Vaqueros also had eight service aces and just two service errors, while the Roos had seven aces but nine errors.
Bojana Mitrovic led UTRGV with 23 kills, while Alisha Watson finished with 16 kills on .556 hitting. Ragni Steen Knudsen posted 13 kills and a career-high five service aces.
Emma Hagedorn led UMKC with 21 kills on .405 hitting, while Madison Mosier added 21 kills. Alicia Harrington recorded 15 kills on .357 hitting.
UMKC out-hit the Vaqueros .405 to .286 in the first set. Hagedorn had six kills on the set, while Mosier had five. In the second set, both teams battled back and forth before UTRGV finally took the 33-31 win to tie the match.
UTRGV jumped out to a 13-1 lead in the third set and cruised to a 25-13 win.
The fourth set was close early as it was tied at nine, but UMKC responded with a 15-6 run to reach set point at 24-15. UMKC followed with three-straight attack errors, and then back-to-back Ragni Steen Knudsen aces brought UTRGV within four. After another error, Mitrovic came up with a kill and then Joanna Boronczyk and Barbara Silva combined on a block to make it a one-point set, but a block by Porter and Mosier snapped the 8-0 run to end the set.
In the fifth and final set, there were 17 ties and UMKC had match point three times before UTRGV ended up winning the match on a pair of attack errors.