Grasso’s double-double powers CSUB win against UTRGV

Peter Castillo

October 6, 2016

The Roadrunners celebrate a win against UTRGV on May 2 after losing three straight set against New Mexico State.

Reporter

The CSU Bakersfield volleyball team finished their six-match home stand with a 3-1 win to hand the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley their first loss in Western Athletic Conference play on Saturday afternoon at the Icardo Center.
CSUB (5-11, 2-1 WAC) was led by senior outside hitter Carol Grasso and redshirt-junior Sydney Haynes with 15 kills apiece.
Grasso also recorded her seventh double-double of the season as she also tallied 12 digs.
“I’ve been focusing a lot on being positive and not getting frustrated,” said Grasso about her stellar play as of late. She also nearly recorded a triple-double in Thursday’s loss.
After losing in straight sets to New Mexico State University of Thursday night, the Roadrunners stumbled out to a 14-8 deficit in the first set against UTRGV. However, CSUB turned the tide and stormed back to win the set 25-23.
After UTRGV (12-6, 3-1 WAC) jumped out to a 16-7 lead in the second set, the Roadrunners mounted yet another comeback.
CSUB cut the lead to 19-14, forcing the Vaqueros to take a timeout.
UTRGV responded strongly after the timeout with a 6-1 run to win the set and even up the score, 1-1.
After halftime, the Roadrunners raced out to a 17-9 lead in the third set.
But UTRGV weathered the storm and went on a run of their own to cut the lead to 22-20. CSUB called a timeout to regroup and eventually won the set 25-22 to take a 2-1 advantage.
“We switched it up and tried a new routine at halftime. We were listening to each other and helping each other out. Those adjustments really helped us in the third set,” said Haynes about the team’s strong performance after halftime.
The fourth set began with an 11-6 CSUB run.
However, UTRGV mustered yet another comeback and eventually led 15-14 at one point.
With the score tied at 16, the Roadrunners scored three straight to force a UTRGV timeout.
The Vaqueros fought back once again to tie the score at 21. CSUB rattled off three more points to bring set up a match point. After UTRGV had staved off defeat with another point, Grasso ended the match with a kill to win the set, 25-22.
“I thought we did a good job stopping their big hitters. We were focused on doing the little things and playing as a team. So it was a good win,” said coach Giovana Melo after Saturday’s win.
The Roadrunners will now hit the road for their first road WAC match of the season as they take on the University of Missouri-Kansas City next Thursday at 5 p.m.