UTPA EARNS CO-CHAMPIONSHIP AT LADY PANTHER CLASSIC
Contact: Dave Geringer, UTPA Sports Information Director, (956) 381-2240



PRAIRIE VIEW, TX-The University of Texas-Pan American's volleyball team shared the championship at Prairie View A&M's Lady Panther Invitational Tournament Saturday.

The Lady Broncs completed a sweep of their four tournament matches, defeating Grambling, 30-23, 30-23 and 30-16, and Dillard, 30-18, 30-14, 28-30 and 30-21 at PVAMU's New Gym. UTPA shared the title with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Each team went 4-0, and the teams did not meet.

Senior outside hitter Jaclyn Muszynski (Walnut, CA/Walnut HS) had a career-high 29 kills, 16 digs and hit .682 Saturday afternoon against Dillard. She had 20 kills, 15 digs and hit .600 against GSU Saturday morning.

Sophomore middle blocker Stephanie Redd (Seguin, TX/Seguin HS) had 11 kills in 14 attempts and hit .786 against Grambling, which ranks as the second best hitting percentage ever in a match by a Lady Bronc player. Redd had 18 kills and hit .424 against the Lady Tigers.

Freshman libero Carol Marcengo (Curitiba, Brazil/SPEI HS) had 35 digs against the Devilettes and 21 against Grambling. Freshman outside hitter Heather Bravo (Las Vegas, NV/Durango HS) had 14 kills and hit .333 against GSU and added 10 kills and 12 digs against Dillard. Freshman setter Karen Lyons (McAllen, TX/ McAllen Memorial HS) had 55 assists in the two matches, while sophomore setter Sandy Darway (San Luis Obispo, CA/Arroyo Grande HS) added 58. Texas-Pan American hit .452 against the Lady Tigers, and .363 against DU.

Muszynski was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament, Marcengo was named the Best Libero, and Redd earned All-Tournament honors.

"Dillard was very athletic and had some really good players," said UTPA Head Coach Dave Thorn. "We controlled the tempo well in the first two games, but they came out strong in the third game, and any time you have a rally scoring situation and the game is close, anyone can win. We took control early in the fourth game and finished it off. Against Grambling, we started off slowly, and came on at the end. Once we cut down on our errors, we really responded, and we took control of the match. We hit very well."

The Lady Broncs improved to 8-7 with the sweep. The Lady Broncs will return home to play Incarnate Word Tuesday evening.

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