EL PASO – Senior Vittoria Price achieved two career-highs, 23 attacks and nine blocks, in a competitive five-set match against Portland State Friday evening in Memorial Gym. Sophomore Torrance Lovesee also set two highs tonight with three solo blocks and three block assists while freshman Mattie Gantt set up a new career-high of 21 assists.
The Miners' (2-3) comeback attempt fell short as Portland State (2-3) secured a tight five-set win 3-2 (25-22, 25-19, 25-21, 25-22, 15-11).
UTEP had two players reach double-digits in kills, Serena Patterson (12) and Price (11). Hande Yetis achieved 23 assists while Hula Crisostomo set the pace with 24 digs.
The Miners out blocked the Vikings 15 to 11 and recorded nine service aces.
"I'm really proud of the fight that we showed," head coach Ben Wallis said. "It was a good competitive match against a really good team who I think will win the Big Sky this year. I really do. They're very veteran and they pressured us. They just came at us, and we didn't respond very well. We struggled to score, but I got more of our players in there that helped us grind back in the third and fourth.
"We're just so young and We've just got to sort out a couple of things and we're so close to being pretty good," Wallis said. "I really like coaching this team and I just want to get in the gym and practice and work, that's all I want to do and all I'm thinking about is practice plans and how I could make this team better. "
SET ONE | The first set consisted of eight tied scores, but only two lead changes as both teams went back-and-forth in scoring. The Miners took a quick 3-1 lead in the set with the help of two back-to-back services aces from Sara Pustahija. The two teams had a ping-pong battle in scoring with ties just before Portland State locked down the lead, 11-10. The Vikings pulled ahead off a 9-3 run. The Miners rallied to tie up the set 22-22 off a Portland State attack error, but two kills by the Vikings and a UTEP error put the Vikings first up on the board.
SET TWO | Portland State gave up four tied scores but held the Miners back from taking the lead. A kill by Torrance Lovesee tied the set 8-8, but the Vikings roped in an 8-2 run forcing two UTEP timeouts. Coming back from the break the Miners a scoring spurt but came up short in the end as Portland State ran with the lead to take a 2-0 advantage in the match, 25-19.
SET THREE | The Miners had a big comeback in the third, stopping Portland State from taking the match via sweep. UTEP had a slow start in the set as it was down by six after a trio of kills by Portland States Makayla Lewis put the squad up 15-9. The Miners pulled out a 5-0 run to close the deficit, giving up only three more points to the Vikings before taking the lead., 19-18, forcing a Portland State timeout. Kills by Pustahija, Alianza Darley and Price set the Miners up with a three-point lead and back-to-back Portland State errors aided the Miners with their first set win of the match, 25-21.
SET FOUR | As the Vikings looked to close the match, the Miners forced a fifth set after a very competitive fourth set win. The Vikings jumped ahead once again, but the Miners kept a close set with multiple tied scores at 11, 12, 13, and 15. Both teams used a timeout as UTEP went up 18-17. The Miners forced another PSU timeout after stretching the lead 21-17. Back-to-back attack errors by the Vikings aided in another UTEP set win, 25-22.
SET FIVE | Sitting at two sets each, the Vikings got the jumped on the Miners in the fifth after a 6-2 run, before UTEP took its first timeout. Portland State put up four more kills forcing a second UTEP timeout. Th Miners closed in on the Vikings at 11-13, but back-to-back kills by Makayla Lewis locked in the match win for the Vikings, 15-11.
Final Thoughts from Coach Wallis
"I just want to say to all our fans, 'thank you for supporting us tonight and just stay with us because we're going to get better, I promise.' I just think that we're really close to doing something great. I'm really proud of Tori (Price) and Alianza (Darley). They were both really good tonight. Tori helped us win it all at a high level in three and four. We've got to find ways to get them to do more swings, but it was fun to watch them play tonight, and it was fun to coach this group. I'm just chomping at the bit to continue to make them better because we're so close to being good and we've got a lot of time, and I'm looking forward to continuing to grow with this team."
UP NEXT
UTEP will conclude the tournament against South Dakota at 10:30 a.m. MT Saturday (Sep. 3). Tickets start at $8 and can be purchased through the Eisenberg Family Ticket Office by calling (915) 747-UTEP, emailing tickets@utep.edu, visiting www.UTEPMiners.com/Tickets or in person at 201 Glory Road (Brumbelow Building, UTEP campus) Monday thru Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Season tickets are also still on sale. Group tickets are also available for $5 (minimum of 10 tickets).
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.
