EL PASO – In front of the largest regular-season home crowd of 1,803 fans, UTEP Volleyball defeated Liberty on the dance floor and on the court in a four-set thriller that included an epic dance battle reminiscent of High School Musical Friday night inside Memorial Gym. 

UTEP improves to 19-8 overall and 10-5 in Conference USA play, while Liberty drops to 15-12 (8-7 CUSA). 

"We really got back to doing what we do best offensively, and we played really hard to get back to our identity as a blocking team," head coach Ben Wallis said. "I'm proud of my group and our Memorial Maniacs. Our crowd helped a lot. It was a fun environment, and I loved every minute of that challenge in the fourth where both teams were just having a blast, and I went up to Trevor (Johnson) and told him 'No one is even thinking about volleyball right now' which was a fun little moment and this time of year we all need moments like that. Kaya (Weaver) was awesome tonight and was really motivated.

"Liberty did a pretty good job tonight and they had a good plan coming in here, and it's going to be another tough match again tomorrow," Wallis said.

Three Miners drilled double-digit kills, two of which had double-doubles. Kaya Weaver led the squad in both offense and defense as she recorded career highs of 13 kills and 11 blocks for a match-high 20 points while hitting .667. Torrance Lovesee posted 13 kills and 13 digs while Alianza Darley followed with 12 kills. Kalia Kohler achieved a career-high 35 assists to help the UTEP offense to a .342 hitting clip. 

UTEP's all-around performance held the statistical advantage in kills (58-43), hitting percentage (.342 - .118), and blocks (15-5), but were out-aced (6-8).    

SET ONE | UTEP got out to an 8-3 start highlighted by four blocks. The Miners stretched the lead 15-10 after three straight kills by Torrance Lovesee and Sakira LaCour. The Flames responded with four straight of their own to force a UTEP timeout. After the break, four Miners laid down three kills and an ace, 19-14. UTEP finished off the opening set on a 5-0 run with pure kills leading up to set point and a block by Kaya Weaver and Alianza Darley locked in the set win, 25-17.  

SET TWO | The Flames forced their own timeout early in the second set after two errors pushed the Miners to a 7-4 lead. Back-to-back kills by LaCour stretched the lead 11-7, but Liberty closed in on UTEP with a pair of aces and UTEP service error, 11-10. Liberty rallied to knot the set at 19-even and gained the lead at 21-20. The Flames arrived at set point of two aces, 24-21. A kill by Weaver and ace by Mattie Gantt brought the Miners within one point, but a block Liberty secured the set to even the match, 25-23.  

SET THREE | The Miners put up multiple scoring runs in the third set. Back-to-back kills from Darley and Weaver put UTEP up 9-3. Liberty won its first challenge of the match after an attack error was deemed a kill and then proceeded to lay down an ace, 9-5. UTEP put up two blocks and an ace in a 6-3 run before Liberty took its final timeout of the set, 15-8. UTEP jumped to an eight-point lead from a Danika Washington kill and block, 20-12. A Liberty attack error and four kills by Weaver handed UTEP the set win, 25-15, and a 2-1 advantage in the match. 

SET FOUR | The final set was full of excitement as two early back-to-back challenges from both coaches kicked off a Dance-Off between the benches. From the Worm to breakdancing to a Head Coach battle, Memorial Gym was roaring, and to top it off UTEP won the second challenge that snowballed into a 6-0 run, 9-3. Four kills and three Liberty errors gave UTEP a nine-point lead, but the Flames snuck in three straight kills to force a UTEP timeout, 16-10. Two kills by Darley, two blocks, and a kill by Weaver all contributed to the Miners' 7-1 run that put them ahead 23-12. Liberty dished out four unanswered points. LaCour slammed down a kill bringing UTEP to match point, 24-16. The Flames put up a big 5-0 rally to shrink the deficit but shot themselves in the foot with an attack error to give UTEP the 25-21 win. 

UP NEXT    
UTEP will close out the regular season on Nov. 11 as the Miners take on the Liberty Lady Flames inside Memorial Gym at 1 p.m. MT. 

 

Give a gift to UTEP Women's Volleyball by donating to the Point Miners Club.             

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