Edinburg, TX- In their second year competing in the Southland Conference the UTRGV volleyball team entered the season with high expectations. Even during the ups and downs of non conference play, Head Coach Todd Lowery saw the potential of his group.

“Every preseason tournament we saw flashes at times where they were really really good so those losses came to really good teams and kind of exposed some things we need to work on.” said Head Coach Todd Lowery.

During the conference season, the team was nearly unbeatable. Rattling off a 16 game winning streak that carried into postseason play.

“We were just taking it one game at a time to go battle through just how the schedule plays out. We got SFA early on in the year and we only get them once. I know our girls would love to play that match twice a year. They really started to gain momentum going into the tournament.”

During the course of that winning streak, Coach Lowery picked up his 600th career win and took home Southland conference coach of the year for helping lead his team to a share of the regular season conference title.

“What made it so special about this group is they were more aware of it than I was. They made it feel like it was all about me and I think it made it special to achieve a big milestone with a group like that.”

The Vaqueros only loss during the conference season came to the same Stephen F. Austin team they’d met in the championship game of the SLC tournament. The vaqueros would fall short against SFA once again - coming up one win shy of a NCAA tournament berth.

“That's always going to be a battle for us as long as we are in this conference they do a great job getting ready i think now that we have been there we will be a little more mentally prepared than we where last year i think the moment got to us this year.”

Looking ahead to the 2026 season, The Vaqueros will need to replace two time Southland Setter of the year Isabella Costantini, who entered the transfer portal. The team’s only transfer.

“It's the world we live in the fact that we only have one speaking volume about our program and just having everybody coming back feels like they are part of something bigger than themselves. Talking to a lot of kids in the transfer portal the kids out there are searching for that.”

As they begin preparations for next season, Coach Lowery will look to fill in those missing pieces that could help push the Vaqueros toward a Southland Conference Title next year.

“We have great underclassmen in the gym and have some really talented kids that didn't see as much court time and are in a really good position to go into next year and all things hold and we will be good.”