After 428 matchless days, UTRGV volleyball will make their much-awaited return to the court to get the 2021 season underway on a Friday road non-conference doubleheader.
The Vaqueros will face off against The University of Texas at San Antonio at 1:30 p.m. followed by the South Texas Showdown against Texas A&M Corpus Christ at 6:30 p.m. at the Dugan Wellness Center.
The last competitive match the Vaqueros took part of was in the first round of the 2019 Western Athletic Conference tournament when they fell, 3-0, to Utah Valley University.
In a weekly news conference via Zoom, UTRGV Head Coach Todd Lowery acknowledged the excitement surrounding the program after an extended offseason.
“We’re excited to play somebody that’s not in an orange or grey tee-shirt, that’s for sure. We’re excited to get on the road and the opportunity to go out and showcase everything that we’ve been working on and a little bit of fun is key for this year, be adaptive and enjoy the experience.”
This season, from a schedule standpoint, will be unique for the Vaquero as they will only have three non-conference games and WAC games will be played on back-to-back days. Lowery said that recovery will be key for every team this season.
“It’s not even back-to-back nights, it’s back-to-back nights, most places with a short turnaround. I mean we’re not even getting 24 hours in between match times. We definitely pushed the girls throughout the fall and first part of spring here conditioning-wise and we talked a lot about it about the best volleyball team might not be the best team on the second night, it’s going to be the team that can physically recover and mentally recover and go back out and do the same things they did the first night at a high level.”
Lowery also pointed out the positive effects that reduced travel can have on his team in what is going to be an exhausting conference season.
“The physical stress of the matches will probably be a little bit more intense, but we get rid of that extra travel stress and sleeping in unfamiliar places stress, changing hotels, and those kinds of things that have gone with the traditional WAC season.”
In the two games of the season, as players are returning from injury and slotted in new positions, Lowery wants to see his players compete.
“I don’t feel like it is make or break weekend but there is some new pieces on the board and people in different positions we want to see how that looks like against a live opponent and even too a little bit of an extent get all of our kids one the same side of the net.”
The most notable player changing position this season for the Vaqueros is senior, 2020 all-WAC preseason first-team selection, Samaret Caraballo who will move from libero to outside hitter.
Lowery expects junior outside hitter and 2020 all-WAC preseason selection Sara Cruz; sophomore outside hitter Victoire Nama and senior middle blocker Veronika Jandova to be a formidable force at the net as 2019 all-WAC first-teamer Barabara Silva is not longer in the program due to graduation.
In the two-month sprint that will be the 2021 season, Lowery wants to see his team be aggressive and make opponents earn points, especially coming out the gates this Friday.
“I want to see our team compete. We’ve really focused on being a more gritty team, controlling our unforced errors and making teams go out and beat us instead of us just being one pass, one set and one swing. We really want to focus on the defensive side of the ball and learn how to compete and how to extend rallies and be a gritty team that won’t go away.”
For more updates and highlights visit GoUTRGV.com.
For Vaquero Radio, I’m Luis Rubio.
