EDINBURG — Following UTRGV’s 2-1 start to the volleyball season at the North Texas Invitational, head coach Todd Lowerygained some valuable insight to his squad.
“I don’t know if we have ever come out of first weekend where we felt like we are going to get so much better than we are now,” said Lowery, in his eighth season at the helm. “We’ve had some amazing first weekends where we were like, yeah, we’re good and we see where our ceiling is.
“I don’t think we’ve had a year where we don’t even have an idea of how good this team is going to be like this year.”
The Vaqueros’ first home test takes place at 6:30 tonight against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at the UTRGV Fieldhouse. The Islanders played a grueling schedule over the weekend, being swept by No. 1-ranked Nebraska and powerhouse Pepperdine before a loss to Tulsa. Meanwhile, UTRGV defeated Jacksonville and North Texas after a thrilling loss to UNLV in five sets. UTRGV held match point during the fourth set but couldn’t hold on.
Tonight’s match, part of the South Texas Showdown, has grown into a rivalry and Lowery said the records are of no indication when the teams meet.
“Obviously it’s going to be close and you can throw the records out the window,” Lowery said. “That’s going to be a match. They just bring organized chaos to the floor. It’s fast and it stresses us out and we just have to be able to handle that stress and do what we are supposed to do on the court.
“The girls have to be mentally locked in and that’s the biggest thing. How focused can we be? If you’re not disciplined for a second against them, they score three points on you.”
Leading the Vaqueros is powerful hitter Sarah Cruz. The fifth-year senior has already been named the Western Athletic Conference offensive player of the week with her performance during the past weekend. A favorite for WAC Player of the Year, Cruz racked up 17 kills against UNLV and 17 against Jacksonville. She capped her performance with 26 kills, 11 digs and five blocks in the win over North Texas. The 26 kills were two short of her career best.
“Sarah is off to a great start and it’s something I kinda called in the offseason,” Lowery said. “Coming off last year, I don’t thinkit’s gonna be a surprise what she’s going to do physically, but mentally this is the best place Sarah has been since she’s beenhere.
“This was her decision — 100% her decision to come back — she had options to go play pro right away but she wanted to get hermaster’s. Education is so important to her and she felt she had more to grow. She really has opened up to that growth processand we’ve been really able to challenge her mentally and physically and have seen that growth come out already early in theseason.”
Cruz said one of the keys to the season is getting comfortable with all the new pieces on the team, transfers and freshmen alike.
“Our weekend went great, especially for our first tournament together,” Cruz said. “Of course, there are things we have to workon but there will always be things to work on as we get better. Being my senior year, there is a little more pressure with the newpieces but I’m trying to be a role model to them and focus on them a little more.”
Having those pieces on the floor and around Cruz has Lowery excited about especially what the WAC season will bring, but also alittle more pressure since UTRGV is hosting the WAC championship this year.
“Having more pieces around her is going to help her have even a better season,” Lowery said. “If (opponents) are going to key onSarah, they are going to get hurt by some other people. If they don’t key on Sarah, she has the ability to really hurt somebody.
“So, it’s going to be interesting to see what teams try to do when they match up against us.”