It was early in the third set and UTSA volleyball coach Laura Neugebauer-Groff signaled for her second and final timeout of the frame.

The Roadrunners had unraveled. They trailed by eight points — a stark development considering a few moments earlier they were positioned to seize control of Sunday’s home opener vs. Incarnate Word.
UTSA needed answers into how to turn the tide.

“We realized, ‘Hey, we have to come together more, and forget about our errors, and forget about things that they’re doing on their side, and play our game,” UTSA sophomore setter Courtney Walters said. “Sometimes, when you try too hard, it doesn’t go your way because you’re overthinking it, and I think that was why we couldn’t get flowing in the beginning of that third set.”

But in a season that even in its infancy has been defined as much by teams having to adjust on the fly as kills and blocks, UTSA has proven it’s adept at dealing with sudden-change situations.

The Roadrunners found their groove late and rallied to edge Incarnate Word 25-20, 21-25, 15-25, 25-21, 15-13 at the Convocation Center. UTSA improved to 2-0 in five-set matches this season. Incarnate Word is 0-2.

“I think the key is that when it came down to it against UT-Rio Grande Valley last weekend and then UIW (on Sunday), we just out-executed them,” Groff said. “The fourth and fifth sets, we executed and that’s what we wanted to do.”

Sophomore Hunter Coppola and freshman Bianca Ejesieme led the way. Coppola had eight of her 15 kills over the final two sets. Ejesieme racked up five of her team-best 17 kills during the same span.

The efforts of Ejesieme and Coppola allowed UTSA (2-1) to win the fourth set and tie the match at 2-2 and force a decisive fifth stanza. The duo, along with timely kills from juniors Kirby Smith (13 kills) and Skyeler Embry (six kills, two aces), powered the Roadrunners to an early lead in the tiebreaker.
Incarnate Word (0-2), though, erased two match points to get within 14-13.

Sophomore Nailah Landon appeared to tie it with a kill but was called for reaching over the net and interfering with an opponent’s ability to make a play on the ball.

“Bianca and I did take a bigger role on that part,” Coppola said. “We had to put the ball down when we did get the ball in order for us to have a chance at winning. It’s very important as a hitter to be able to do that.”

The late heroics were necessary after Incarnate Word dug itself out what appeared was going to be a deep hole. UTSA won the opening set and was on the cusp of winning the second when it 20-18. The Cardinals, though, scored seven of the next eight points to win and tie up the contest.

Junior outside hitter Bethany Clapp had a kill and two aces to spark a 5-0 run that gave Incarnate Word its first lead of the contest at 21-20. Freshman Jacqueline Arrington then had a kill and a block to help close out the frame.

“Overall, I’m not upset about the way we played,” said Clapp, who had 22 kills, a .354 hitting percentage, 14 digs and five aces. “We came out and we gave UTSA a really good game, and I think both teams probably got better from this.”

Riding the momentum, the Cardinals used a 16-2 surge to capture a 16-4 advantage in the third set and never looked back.

“They took care of things in the second and third sets really nicely, and then in the fifth set, down by a lot, came back and fought to lose by two,” Incarnate Word coach Sam Dabbs Thomas said. “I’m just proud of a young team, and a new team, to come out there and play some really good aggressive volleyball.”

In the end, UTSA prevailed in a matchup of teams that have been hamstrung by COVID issues. Incarnate Word played its Nov. 23 season opener at Prairie View A&M without any of its setters, while UTSA had players out for its season opening matches Jan. 22-23 in Corpus Christi and canceled two matches last week at Tulane because of protocols.

terrence@terrencesports.com
Twitter: @sa_terrence1