SAN ANTONIO — UTSA volleyball swept East Carolina University 3-0 on Sunday at the Convocation Center.
The Roadrunners (11-8, 4-4 AC) won the sets 25-14, 25-19, 25-19. In the first set, UTSA quickly claimed the upper hand on East Carolina (10-9, 2-6 AC) and was able to maintain a rhythm throughout the set. In set two, the ‘Runners battled through adversity by climbing out of a 11-6 hole to win 25-19. Up 2-0, UTSA clinched the sweep after a back-and-forth battle toward the end of set three.
“Great day today. Great crowd at the Convo,” coach Carol Price-Torok said. “ECU is doing some great stuff. I know the girls did phenomenal offensively of spreading the ball out and making sure we were distributing the ball. Ultimately that’s what led to our success.”
UTSA looked strong in the first set, embarking on an early 9-4 run. Four kills from graduate opposite hitter Brooke Elliott, freshman outside hitter Taylor Gaines and sophomore outside hitter Ally Tribe — along with two service aces from sophomore middle blocker Caroline Tredwell and Gaines — gave the Roadrunners the advantage and forced the Pirates to call a timeout. East Carolina scored five times coming out of its timeout, but the ‘Runners stayed disciplined and extended the lead to 17-9. The Pirates came out of their second timeout more aggressive, scoring five times, but were unable to keep up with the Roadrunners.
UTSA carried its momentum into the second set. East Carolina took advantage of an attack error from Gaines with three consecutive kills from Sydney Buchanan to take a 6-4. The Pirates scored four more times after a kill from Gaines and extended their lead 10-5. After a timeout, the Roadrunners displayed their resilience. Kills from Elliott, Tribe, freshman opposite hitter Gigi Mason and a service ace from freshman defensive specialist Giada Obregon allowed the ‘Runners to tie the game. The end of the second set was intense, with East Carolina and UTSA matching each other offensively, but the Roadrunners eventually came out on top.
“The players just continuing to focus and trusting the matchups and what we were doing,” Price-Torok said when asked what she attributes to the team’s resilience. “We really wanted to rely heavily on our right side and middle [players] today and we did that. I think that stuff really matters when we’re putting together a gameplan that people can execute.”
The Roadrunners entered the third set looking sharp, jumping out to an 8-4 lead. The Pirates responded quickly with kills from Carlia Northcross and Aulie Huff. East Carolina added three more points due to a bad set from sophomore setter Megan Hawkins and two attack errors from Tribe. Coming out of a timeout taken by the Pirates, a back-and-forth contest with multiple kills and service errors from both teams lead to an East Carolina advantage.
Down the stretch, UTSA continued to put pressure on East Carolina by making great plays on the backline that led to kills from Tribe, Tredwell and Elliott to stay in front. Tribe spiked the ball in the Pirates’ territory to win the set and complete the conference sweep.
“At the end of the day, conference is hard,” Price-Torok said of the win. “I think the biggest thing is we can get really heady about losses and obviously Friday we weren’t happy and a little frustrated in how we were playing, so it was great to see them answer back today. [They] just need to continue to trust themselves and what we’re doing. That momentum, we just have to continue to carry it forward.”
Tredwell, Gaines and Elliott led the team with 11 kills, while Tribe and Mason had nine and five, respectively. UTSA gave away five service errors compared to East Carolina’s three, and the Roadrunners had 11 errors while the Pirates had 15.
UTSA will next play Rice University at 6 p.m. Friday at Tudor Fieldhouse.
