The afternoon appeared to be playing out like many others have this season for the UTSA volleyball team. A promising start turned into a deficit midway through the opening set, presenting a tough hill to climb.

So often, this has been the moment where things have unraveled for the Roadrunners in a match. But challenged by their coach in a film session a day earlier, they flipped the script.

Behind a school-record blocking performance, UTSA outlasted first-place South Florida 25-23, 10-25, 25-19, 21-25, 15-7 on Sunday in an America Athletic Conference match before a crowd of 1,052 at the Convocation Center.

UTSA (9-15 overall, 2-8 in AAC) has won two of its past four conference contests after beginning league play 0-6.

“Our conference is tough,” UTSA coach Carol Price-Torok said. “You just have to control what you can control. Today, after that second set, we very easily could’ve been like, ‘Oh, well, they’re better than us.’ We made some adjustments, people stepped up, and they continued to grind. We’ve been preaching that all year — just stay the course, continue to trust each other, continue to believe. They got one against a really, really solid team today.”

For the Roadrunners, they saw a month’s worth of frustrations from not getting over the hump washed away in one afternoon. They also saw their potential fulfilled.

It started with a dominant effort at the net that yielded 23 blocks, the most in school history during the rally-scoring era, which began in 2001. Senior Alicia Coppedge had 13 assisted blocks (6 1/2 total), sophomore Miranda Putnicki added 4 1/2, sophomore Kai Bailey tallied four, juniors Mia Soerensen and Caroline Krueger each totaled 2 1/2 and freshman Ally Tribe chipped in two.

South Florida (12-9, 8-2) entered Sunday’s contest with a .237 hitting percentage but was limited to a .117 clip, racking up 56 kills in 162 attempts while committing 37 errors.

“I think communication between me and the pins was amazing,” Coppedge said. “The whole time I didn’t think there was going to be a time when I would be up (blocking) alone. “I think that we’re growing a lot and we’re definitely building on everything that we’ve learned throughout the year.”

The lessons paid dividends on Sunday as UTSA, motivated by a road loss at Temple two days earlier, came up clutch when it mattered. In the decisive fifth set, the Roadrunners jumped to a 6-0 advantage behind tough serving from Krueger and a rash of hitting errors by South Florida. They never looked back.

Krueger had a team-high 11 kills and Tribe added 10. Soerensen and Bailey had eight apiece. Freshman setter Morgen Durgens had 15 assists and 10 digs, while sophomore Annika Sokol notched 12 assists.

“I think our team, after (losing to) Temple on Friday, was angry,” said UTSA sophomore libero Peyton Turner, who had a team-leading 15 digs. “That really helped us to play for each other; work hard.”

The camaraderie was displayed throughout. It started in the opening set when the Roadrunners used a 9-3 late run to overcome a 20-16 deficit and prevail. It was displayed in how they bounced back after dropping the second and fourth frames.

“It was a really, really great match,” Torok said. “(It was a) really, really tough first set that we squeaked out, and then we just stayed the course. We were able to make some adjustments and people that came in made a difference.”

Putnicki was one of those people. Less than a year ago, she tore her left ACL in a match at Wichita State. On Sunday, she came off the bench and played a crucial role in a win.

“There’s always doubts in my head, which I’m still trying to work through,” Putnicki said of returning from the injury. “I felt a lot more confident in myself, so I think today’s game really helped mentally.”

terrence@terrencesports.com
Twitter: @sa_terrence1