TULSA – Behind Serena Patterson's team-high 18 kills, the UTEP volleyball team (4-5) closed out the Oral Roberts Tournament with a win over Oral Roberts (2-7), 3-1 (25-20, 23-25, 25-19, 25-17) Saturday.
Hula Crisostomo and Marian Ovalle were named to the All-Tournament Team.
"Marian and Hula earned it and deserved it," head coach Ben Wallis said. "Marian really was the star offensively pretty much all weekend. Mattie Gantt didn't start the match and I've kept the Marian with Mattie I would say, all year. Marian has developed a really nice special chemistry with Mattie and Marian struggled a little bit in the first set today, but she figured it out and helped us win at a high level and she led us in points this weekend."
Four Miners hit milestones versus Oral Roberts
The Miners had three players reach double-digit in kills: Patterson (18), Pustahija (15), and Lovesee (12). Barnes directed the offense with 26 assists for the Miners. Hula Crisostomo had a team-high 24 digs, while Pustahija tallied 17 for a double-double.
UTEP held the statistical advantage in kills (64-44), blocks (11-9), hitting percentage (.249 - .162), and aces (9-2).
"Torrance Lovesee was really good today and she just kept hitting the ball hard," Wallis said. "Kaya Weaver got her first real playing time today and put up some good kill numbers as well. We really had a lot of good play today from a lot of people and we had a lot of really good play chipped in today and we just never got out of control."
SET ONE | The Miners shredded seven kills to kick start the match and four ORU errors helped UTEP take a 15-9 lead before taking a timeout. UTEP hit a 6-1 run leaving ORU behind 21-12. UTEP used a timeout to stop ORU's momentum and Patterson and Pustahija put up kills to win the set, 25-20.
SET TWO | ORU whipped out an early lead, 9-5, allowing five kills between Patterson and Pustahija. The Miners gained some momentum closing in on the Golden Eagles 18-16. Kills by Ovalle and Darley tied up the set and the teams battled it out, going back-and-forth to put up points, but ORU pulled through and tied up the match, 25-23.
SET THREE | The Miners had the lead locked in and never gave ORU a chance to tie the score. UTEP forced the Golden Eagles to huddle up after Ovalle dominated the court with back-to-back kills, 16-11. ORU drove a 7-3 scoring run to slow down the Miners forcing a UTEP timeout, but after the break Patterson slammed down three straight kills to win the set, 25-19, and take a 2-1 advantage in the match.
SET FOUR | ORU took a very early timeout in the final set after the Miners dominated the court with kills, 6-3. With the lead nailed down, UTEP stretched the lead by eight with a sprinkle of Miners putting down kills, 17-9. ORU hit a small scoring run of their own, but their rally was no match for UTEP as the Miners stopped the Golden Eagles, 25-17, to win the match.
Final Thoughts from Coach Wallis
"It's pretty exciting to think that we never got out of control. And we had five freshmen on the floor today. We started with five freshmen and at times we looked like we were very veteran. We showed our youth in the second set, but we settled back in and we just found a way to earn points. It was really fun to coach this team today and I'm glad we got out of here 2-1. We learned that we're capable of doing some good stuff and at the end of the day, we've got a good, deep athletic roster."
UP NEXT
The Miners return to action as they compete in the Arizona Tournament in Tucson, Ariz. Sep. 16-17. UTEP will face CSUN and Arizona on Friday (Sep. 16) and will close out the tournament against Texas A&M – Corpus Christi on Saturday (Sep. 17).
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.
