UTEP gifts Wallis birthday win; knocks off Grand Canyon in volleyball exhibition
EL PASO, Texas - UTEP Head Volleyball Coach Ben Wallis is always a pretty positive guy to be around. But there's no secret as to what he was asking for his birthday on Saturday.
The Miners gave their coach a birthday gift in form of victory Saturday, knocking off Grand Canyon in a home exhibition by a score of three sets to one (25-21, 25-22, 25-11, 21-25). The match was pre-determined to be four sets in length.
"I was pleased with a lot of things, mostly how we received it," head coach Ben Wallis said following the match. "We've got some good veteran players and we were really good receiving it for long stretches, so when we receive it well we are a load to deal with. We've got five or six attackers who can really score. Grand Canyon is a really good defensive team and they challenged us early on. There was some good volleyball for a while there with long rallies and it was exciting for our crowd."
Wallis and the Miners gave home fans a sneak peek at what could be a special season, coming off their highest win total since the 1980s a season ago.
Egypt native and newcomer Yasso Amin paced the attack with a team-high 12 kills, while returnee Paulina Perez-Rosas added ten kills, nine digs, and one block.
The Miners will open the 2021 campaign on Friday, August 27 at the Idaho State Tournament where UTEP will face UC Irvine, Seattle and Idaho State in the two-day invitational.
