Emiliano Reaches 3,000 Career Assists as Volleyball Sweeps Utah ... - UTRGV Athletics

RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team earned a 3-0 (26-24, 25-19, 25-11) sweep over the Utah Tech Trailblazers in a Western Athletic Conference (WAC) match Saturday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse and junior setter Luanna Emiliano reached 3,000 career assists.

Emiliano became only the second player in program history to record 3,000 assists as she set up the final point of the match. She is No. 2 all-time and needs 906 more assists to become the program record holder and pass Chelsea Blakely (3,905 assists from 2005-08).

Emiliano tallied 30 assists and a career-high seven kills to aid the UTRGV (9-8, 3-1) win. Junior right side Perris Key led the Vaqueros with 13 kills on a whopping .522 hitting and had six digs. Freshman outside hitter Nadine Zech had nine kills on .318 hitting and senior middle blocker Luisa Silva Dos Santos added six kills on .462 hitting with 4.5 blocks. Junior libero Kiaraliz Perez tabbed 19 digs, six assists and a career-high three aces.

Utah Tech (4-9, 0-3 WAC) was led by Hannah Howard’s 11 kills. Taela Laufiso had 17 assists, five digs and two aces, and Mya Laufiso added 13 digs.

The Vaqueros controlled the first set early on, aided by a slew of attack errors by the Trailblazers. UTRGV used an early 6-0 run and a pair of blocks from Santos to open up a 15-5 lead. The Vaqueros were passing and covering really well, keeping them in system and allowing a lot of pins to get involved early.

But the Trailblazers didn’t go down quietly. They used a 6-0 run of their own to trim the deficit to 16-11 before junior middle blocker Margherita Giani capped a long, defensively impressive rally with a kill up the middle. Utah Tech tied the set at 19-19 and took its first lead at 21-20, soon earning the first set point up 24-22 following an ace.

UTRGV closed the frame with four straight points started by a rocket kill from Zech. Perez dropped an ace just inside the baseline to secure the set, 26-24.

UTRGV opened the second set strong again, taking a 7-2 lead behind really tough serving from Zech. But the Trailblazers made the set tight, and both teams showed scrappy defense to keep rallies competitive. Santos, Key and Julianna Bryant were productive down the stretch to help the Vaqueros create some cushion up 19-13, and UTRGV again closed the frame on a 4-0 run capped by a kill off the block by Zech to win it, 25-19, and take the 2-0 advantage.

The third set saw another strong start from UTRGV, helping an early 9-3 lead. Perez continued to dominate from the service line, sparking a 3-0 run with back-to-back kills from Zech and another Perez ace to force a timeout up 13-5.

Different from the previous two sets, UTRGV kept Utah Tech from being able to make the third frame very competitive. Even when the Vaqueros were scrambling, they seemed to make something happen – putting bodies all over the floor to get under balls and finding holes in the defense to drop in points. A kill by Key put UTRGV up 19-7.

On the final play of the match, Emiliano set up a kill by junior outside hitter Ilana De Assis for the 25-11 set win. With that final assist and final point of the match, Emiliano recorded her 3,000^th career assist.

The Vaqueros will continue WAC play Oct. 5 at 8 p.m. at Seattle U.