University of Texas El Paso secures Sports Commission Invitational title - Volleyball
The girls’ volleyball team of University of Texas El Paso (UTEP), also known as the Miners, jumped to 4-0 en route to the El Paso Sports Commission Invitational title while playing at Memorial Gym on Saturday, August 27. They performed amazingly well and
defeated Nicholls State and UT-Arlington (UTA) in back-to-back matches and claimed the first-place price.
UTEP vs. Nicholls State
The UTEP girls defeated Nicholls State in straight sets with match-high 41 kills and a hitting efficiency of .235. Jeane Horton started things off and pounded the first kill of the match. She attacked for a total of 12 kills and chipped in a .308 percentage. On
the other hand, senior M.T. Joyce helped the team with nine kills and hit a team-best .444. She was among the team leaders with eight digs. Equally talented Xitlali Herrera delivered a spectacular performance against the Colonels. She collected eight kills
and six blocks, which led her side to success.
UTEP vs. UTA
The second match against UTA was quite a nail-biting affair but UTEP managed to deal with the power of opponents and defeated them in three straight sets.
The first set was an intense fight as both teams tried to take the control. Bridget Logan of UTEP scored five kills, while Xitlali Herrera followed it up four kills. In response, the UTA players also put away nice scores. They resisted in full force and
remain hand in hand with UTEP. However, the Miners hit the mark and ousted the Mavericks 25-23 in the first set.
Second set was another cracking fight but it came successful for UTEP, who closed out the competition with same score of 25-23. Marie-Therese “M.T.” Joyce was real heroin of second set as she helped UTEP with five kills and two digs.
Sophomore Jeane Horton went into double-digits in the third sets. She put up a great performance and added points on 11 kills. The Miners settled for the victory
over Mavericks (UTA) to continue their winning streak 4-0.
UTEP Setter Malia Patterson received huge applause for her 37 assist while adding five digs to the scoreboard. Stephanie Figueroa did
a great job at defence and picked up a match-high of 19 digs. Figueroa of UTEP clinched the biggest honour as she was named most valuable player (MVP) of the El Paso Sports Commission Invitational.
In the next run, the Miners are going to travel to New York on Friday, Sept. 2 in a matchup with Niagara and then a match against Cornell in the Cornell Invitational. UTEP faces American and Delaware on Saturday, Sept. 3.
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