Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 CANYON, TEXAS – The University of the Incarnate Word volleyball team split a pair of matched on the final day at the BritKare Lady Buff Classic hosted by West Texas A&M on Saturday. The dropped a hard fought match to UC-Colorado Springs in the morning 25-18, 25-23, 30-28 before rallying in the afternoon to knock off UT-Permian Basin 23-25, 25-10, 25-13, 25-22.

In the opening match of the day, the Cardinals (3-1) struggled to get going and quickly found themselves down a set to Colorado Springs. In the second set each team struggled for the advantage with neither leading by more than three points at any time. After a service error by UCCS, the score was knotted at 20. UCCS picked up the next three points in a row and held on for the win when Kim Catlett pounded home a kill.

The third set was a difficult one to swallow for the Cardinals as they led for the majority of the set and even had two set points. On each occasion, Colorado Spring had the answers and they were able to close out the match with three consecutive kills.

The Cardinals posted their lowest attack percentage of the tournament, .127, and had 26 attack errors in the match. Freshman Brittani Dear (La Vernia/La Vernia HS) led the team with 12 kills, 12 digs anda .241 attack. Sophomore Angelique Viduarri (San Antonio/Southwest HS) also posted double digit kills with 10 to go along with a .231 attack. Taylor McClelland (Cypress/Cypress Ranch HS) had 19 assists and five digs while Danielle Suarez (San Antonio/Antonian HS) had 18 assists, seven digs and three aces. Sarah Cardenas (San Antonio/O'Connor HS) led the defense with 14 digs.

UCCS had fewer kills than the Cardinals, but also 14 fewer attack errors. They posted a .252 attack percentage and were consistent throughout the match. Jornan Banich led the team with 13 kills, eight digs and four blocks. Grace Gordon dished out 32 assists and had 12 digs. The team registered 10.0 blocks led by Kristen Sciacca's five blocks. Heather Sanders added 19 digs.

In the second match of the day, the Cardinals appeared poised to run away with the first set when they led the Falcons, 20-13. However, UT-Permian Basin stunned them by pulling close and then scoring the final seven points of the match to win 25-23.

Fortunately, the Cardinals took the dropped set as a challenge and steamrolled through the next two sets not allowing the Falcons to reach 15 points in either. The final set was much closer, but UIW was able to hold off all of the Falcons' challenges to get the win.

UIW finished with 60 kills and a .245 attack on offense and 61 digs and 11.5 blocks on defense. Shaina Garza (San Antonio/Warren HS) had her best match of the weekend with 17 kills, 12 digs and a .316 attack percentage. Meaghan Patterson (Helotes/O'Connor HS) was dominant at the net with 11 kills, a .350 attack, seven blocks and four service aces thrown in. Suarez directed the offense with 28 assists and nine digs while McClelland added 20 assists and eight digs. Vidaurri had 11 kills and a career high eight blocks.

The Falcons managed 33 kills, 57 digs and 9.0 blocks in the match. Hannah Rebb was their top offensive player with 11 kills and a .200 attack. Ariel Fralick had a double-double with 18 assists and 12 digs while Morgann Davis led the team with five blocks.

Vidaurri was named to the All-Tournament Team after averaging 3.23 kills and 0.85 blocks per set while posting a .258 attack percentage.

The Cardinals are back in action on September 16 at 6 p.m. in the home opener against Texas Tech.
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