Scorpions sweep into RRAC final

It wasn’t pretty, but the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College accomplished its goal at the Red River Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals Friday — reach the final.

The Scorpions took a hard-fought 3-0 victory over Our Lady of the Lake 25-19, 25-21, 25-20 at the Sid Richardson Center on the campus of Texas Wesleyan.

UTB-TSC (30-1) advances to the RRAC championship match at 2 p.m. Saturday against the winner of the late Friday match between Southwestern Assemblies of God and Wiley College.

"We didn’t play very well, but the most important thing is that we won the match," Scorpions coach Todd Lowery said. "We didn’t do a good job on serve receive and let too many balls hit the floor. But I’m confident that we’ll bounce back and play well (today)."　

RRAC player of the year Arlene Ferreira led the Scorpions’ attack with 18 kills on 32 attacks with four errors and a .438 hitting percentage. She also added nine digs.

Setter Daianarah Bracero recorded a season-high 44 assists for a three-set match. She repeatedly set up attacks for Ferreira, Judith Boel, Valquiria Caboclo and Erica Chimak.

Boel had 11 kills on 23 attacks and a .391 hitting percentage, Caboclo nine kills on 15 attacks and a .467 hitting percentage, and Chimak eight kills on 25 attacks and a .200 percentage.

Boel led the Scorpions in digs with 11, followed by Ferreira with nine, and Bracero and Chimak with eight each. Libero Rafaella Dornelas added seven.

UTB-TSC volleyball collects five conference awards

The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College took five home five Red River Athletics Conference awards Friday.

Arlene Ferreira was named player of the year, and four teammates were placed on the RRAC All-Conference team. Daianarah Bracero was named setter of the year, Valquiria Caboclo won freshman of the year, Judith Boel was newcomer of the year and Todd Lowery took coach of the year.

Ferreira, a sophomore, was named all-conference first team at outside hitter. Boel, a junior, joined her at right side, senior Bracero was the setter and freshman Caboclo was at middle blocker.

Outside hitter Erica Chimak and junior outside hitter Rafaela Dornelas were placed on the second team. Sophomore middle blocker Talita Milasauskas and sophomore defensive specialist Anayeli Trevino were on the honorable mention list.

Lowery is in his first year at UTB-TSC after six years at National American University from 2002-08.

The ninth-ranked Scorpions checked into the RRAC Tournament sporting a 29-1 record.