EL PASO – The UTEP volleyball team achieved its best start in conference since joining Conference USA in 2005. The last time UTEP started 4-0 in conference play was in 1996 as members of the WAC. The Miners won their first six conference matches that year.
UTEP (10-7, 4-0 C-USA) defeated North Texas (8-11, 2-2 C-USA) in five-set, 3-2 (25-23, 25-14, 21-25, 17-25, 15-12) Sunday afternoon in Memorial Gym.
Torrance Lovesee and Serena Patterson led the Miners with 14 kills each. Hande Yetis (22) and Mattie Gantt (21) combined to put up 43 assists for the Miners and Hula Crisostomo had a team-high 22 digs. Crisostomo achieved a career-high of seven service aces.
Three Miners achieved career-highs in blocks: Kaya Weaver (10), and Sara Pustahija and Ema Uskokovic with six each.
UTEP held the statistical advantage in blocks (17 - 12), hitting percentage (.221 - .172), and service ace (12-5), but were outhit in kills (56-54).
"We expected it to be a war and we were able to get the victory over a really good team," head coach Ben Wallis said. "We knew how athletic and physical and talented that North Texas team is. They've been playing very well. They just gave perennially the best team in the west side of our conference of a handful on Friday. So, we knew they were going to come in here and give us everything that we had. I'm just excited that my team was able to respond after winning two sets very handily and then turning around and losing two sets."
SET ONE | North Texas got out to an early lead start the match, 10-5. The Miners posted eight kills in a 12-8 run just before both teams took a timeout. At 20 even, an attack error by UNT snapped the tie in favor of the Miners. UTEP ran with the advantage and a kill by Darley capped the opening set, 25-23.
SET TWO | Three errors from UNT put the Miners up 3-0 in the second set. UTEP extended the lead 13-5 with three Miners landing kills. UTEP continued to stretch the lead and stopped the Mean Green at just 14 points in the set. The Miners closed the second set on a 5-0 run, 25-14, with Hula Crisostomo recording the last three points in consecutive aces.
SET THREE | North Texas got the jump on the Miners early on forcing UTEP to sidebar. A quick UTEP rally compelled UNT to take a timeout as well, but after the break both teams went back-and-forth in exchanging points. A UTEP attack error broke the 17-17 tie and UNT continued to pressure the Miners to break a potential sweep. UNT's final rally of the set consisted of four kills and an ace, only allowing one kill to the Miners, to win the set, 25-21.
SET FOUR | UNT had another dynamic set taking a fast lead over the Miners, 10-5. With UNT still up, 16-11, UTEP took a timeout and after the break landed two more kills to shrink the deficit. North Texas ran an 8-3 scoring run with only one error to win the set, 25-17, and tie up the match at two a piece,
SET FIVE | The Mean Green once again got a hold of the lead in the final set. An attack error from UNT tied up the set, 7-7, but drove a 3-1 run shortly after. An ace by Hande Yetis and an assisted block from the Miners gave them the lead, 11-10. A UNT kill tied things up again but gave UTEP back the lead off a service error. The Miners shredded two more kills, gave up one to UNT, and Crisostomo slammed the door on the Mean Green with another service ace to win the set and match, 15-12.
Final Thoughts from Coach Wallis
"We didn't give them anything. They earned those third, third and fourth set wins. But to be able to get right back at it emotionally with a bunch of young people out there, I thought Ali (Darley), Hula (Crisostomo) and Serena (Patterson) were very intentional about keeping everyone moving forward and making sure that we were not thinking about the third and the fourth set, but more about what we were going to do in the fifth set to earn our victory. We came up with some real timely kills. Torrance (Lovesee) and Sara (Pustahija) got a few real timely kills there. And you know, honestly, SP (Patterson) just kind of carried us through the match with her competitiveness and her energy, and so did Ali. Ali was really locked in, and she was able to come up with some nasty blocks. I mean, in that match to block 17 balls in five sets against a really physical team, that says a lot about how much our team wanted to win and earn it. And so, it's a really good victory. I'm given a couple of days off to rest and relax their bodies and lick their wounds a little bit. And we're going to turn our attention to Rice."
UP NEXT
Miners are back in action as they host No. 22 Rice on Saturday (Oct. 8) at 12 p.m. MT in Memorial Gym.
For complete coverage of UTEP Women's Volleyball, be sure to follow the Miners on social media at @utepvb (Instagram) @UTEPVolleyball (Facebook) and @UTEPVB (Twitter) or visit the official home of UTEP Athletics at UTEPMiners.com.
