November 22, 1998
The UNLV volleyball team finished the regular season second in the WAC's Mountain Division and earned a first-round bye in this week's WAC Tournament at the MGM Grand Garden Arena is Las Vegas. The Rebels will open up secondround play at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 25 against the winner of Tuesday's Utah vs. TCU match. This will be UNLV's second appearance in the WAC Tournament as it participated in the 1996 event.
Rebels to face winner of first round match between Utah and TCU on Wed., Nov. 25 at 1:00 p.m. at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Wed., Nov. 25
UNLV Rebels vs. Utah or TCU 1:00 p.m. PST
Match at MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nev.
THE POSSIBLE OPPONENTS
Utah (19-8, 9-5 WAC) finished third in the WAC's Pacific Division and will face TCU on Tuesday, Nov. 24, at 1:00 p.m. in the first round of the WAC Tournament. Utah has won its last five matches most recently at UTEP and at New Mexico. The Utes are led by sophomore Kalani Tonga who is averaging 4.22 kills per game and 3.05 digs per game. Junior Graciela Torres leads the team in assists with 12.84 per game. Head Coach Beth Launiere is in her ninth year with a record of 156126.
TCU (7-22, 4-10 WAC) finished sixth in the WAC's Mountain Division and will face Utah on Tuesday, Nov. 24 at 1:00 p.m. in the first round of the WAC Tournament. TCU lost at Rice, but defeated Tulsa in Oklahoma to secure a bid to the tournament. TCU is led by freshman Marci King who is averaging 3.50 kills per game and senior Jill Pape who is averaging 2.94 kills per game. Freshman Lindsay Hayes is leading the team in assists with 9.69 per game. Head Coach Sandy Troudt is in her third year at TCU with a record of 24-70 and is in her 14th year as a head coach with a career record of 218-231.
THE REBELS
UNLV (22-7, 11-3 WAC) finished second in the WAC's Mountain Division and will face the winner of Utah vs. TCU on Wednesday, Nov. 25 at 1:00 p.m. in the second round of the WAC Tournament. UNLV defeated Colorado State 15-13, 15-6, 14-16, 15-10 and Wyoming 15-13, 15-0, 15-6 in its final home contests of the season. The Rebels are led by junior Angie Sylvas who is averaging 4.05 kills per game (5th in the WAC) and 2.67 digs per game (T17th in the WAC). Senior Meride Boyer leads the team in assists with 13.80 per game (2nd in the WAC)...The Rebels return nine players and four starters from last year's squad that finished the season with an overall record of 9-18...The Rebels finished seventh in the Western Athletic Conference's Mountain Division with a mark of 2-12 and failed to make the WAC Tournament...Head Coach Deitre Collins is in her third season and has a career record of 36-47.
POSSIBLE REBEL STARTERS
No. Player Pos. 1998 Statistics 9 Meride Boyer S 13.80 apg, 2.57 dpg, 0.80 bpg14 Christel Eves OH/MB 2.79 kpg, 1.86 dpg, 1.13 bpg, .356 hp 7 Danielle Gerlach OH/MB 2.21 kpg, 1.77 dpg, 0.76 bpg13 Amber Graham MB 2.08 kpg, 0.99 bpg, .306 hp 6 Jeanette Graves OH 3.58 kpg, 0.55 bpg, 1.36 dpg 4 Justine Kamelamela OH 3.83 kpg, 2.63 dpg, .223 hp16 Michele Peoples MB 1.92 kpg, 1.00 bpg 2 Ana Ramos DS 2.02 dpg, 0.26 sapg15 Angie Sylvas OH 4.05 kpg, 2.67 dpg, 0.46 sapg
USA TODAY/AVCA TOP 25 POLL
Poll No. 11, Nov. 16
Rank Team Pts Rec. Lst Wk 1 Long Beach St (34) 1474 26-0 1 2 Penn State (24) 1459 26-0 2 3 Nebraska (2) 1387 25-0 3 4 Stanford 1317 23-2 4 5 Florida 1233 26-2 5 6 BYU 1200 24-2 6 7 Hawai'i 1148 24-2 7 8 Wisconsin 1061 23-4 8 9 Pacific 1012 22-5 9 10 UCSB 948 24-5 10 11 USC 911 19-4 11 12 Texas 880 21-3 12 13 Arkansas 768 24-3 13 14 Michigan State 722 21-4 14 15 Colorado 666 20-4 15 16 UCLA 560 13-10 16 17 Kansas State 539 17-8 17 18 San Diego 473 21-4 18 19 Arizona 412 19-6 19 20 Illinois 327 17-9 20 21 L. Marymount 275 18-7 21 22 Texas A&M 227 16-8 22 23 Louisville 125 22-4 24 24 Texas Tech 110 19-10 23 25 Northern Iowa 77 23-2 N/R Others receiving points: Colorado State (46), Santa Clara (37),
North Carolina (19), Pepperdine (17), Miami, Ohio (11), Oral Roberts (9),
Ball State (7), Sacramento State (7), Eastern Washington (6), Minnesota (6),
Northern Illinois (4), Fairfield (3), Indiana (3), Utah (3), Georgetown (2),
Nevada (2), Virginia (2), Dayton (1), Illinois State (1), South Carolina (1),
South Florida (1), Washington State (1).
This Week's Practice Schedule
UNLV will practice on Monday, Nov. 23 at 2:30 p.m. at the Lied Gymnasium on campus. The Rebels will then practice on Tuesday, Nov. 24 at 8:00 a.m. at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and then again later on Tuesday at approximately 2:30 p.m. at Lied Gym.
VOLLEYBALL DEFEATS DIVISION-LEADING COLORADO STATE
Rebels win 10th-straight home match and improve WAC record to 103.
LAS VEGAS (11/19)- Led by junior Angie Sylvas' double-double and match-highs of 21 kills and 11 digs, the UNLV volleyball team defeated Mountain Division-leading Colorado State 15-13, 15-6, 14-16, 15-10 in a Western Athletic Conference match Thursday, at Lied Gymnasium.
UNLV (21-7, 10-3 WAC) won its 10thstraight home match and improved its record at Lied Gymnasium to 12-1.
The Rebels were assisted by junior Jeanette Graves' 17 kills, while junior Christel Eves recorded 13 kills with only one error in 20 attempts for a hitting percentage of .600.
Freshman Amber Graham added 11 kills for UNLV, while sophomore Ana Ramos and junior Danielle Gerlach each recorded 10 digs. Senior Meride Boyer led all players with 55 assists.
Colorado State (22-6, 11-2 WAC) was led by senior Esther Langley, junior Catie Vagneur and freshman Courtney Cox's 10 kills apiece. Vagneur added 10 digs, while sophomore Katherine Pettit recorded a teamhigh 41 assists.
UNLV outhit the Rams .261 to .207 for the match and recorded 72 kills to CSU's 54. The Rebels outdug CSU 56-40 and recorded 62 assists to the Rams' 45.
VOLLEYBALL DEFEATS WYOMING AND EARNS WAC TOURNEY BYE
Rebels win 11th-straight home match in regular season finale.
LAS VEGAS (11/21)Led by junior Danielle Gerlach's doubledouble of 11 kills and 11 digs, the UNLV volleyball team defeated Wyoming 15-13, 15-0, 15-6 in a Western Athletic Conference match and both team's regular season finale Saturday at Lied Gymnasium.
With the win UNLV (227, 113 WAC) finished the regular season in second place in the WAC's Mountain Division and will receive a firstround bye in next week's WAC Tournament. UNLV finished one match back of Colorado State in the standings.
Gerlach had only three errors in 20 attempts for a hitting percentage of .400 as the Rebels reeled off 22 unanswered points at one point during the match. Junior Angie Sylvas recorded a matchhigh 13 kills and junior Christel Eves recorded nine kills with only one error in 15 attempts for a .533 percentage.
Meri-de Boyer, UNLV's lone senior, recorded a match-high 37 assists on senior night.
UNLV won the second game 150, which marks only the third time in program history that the Rebels have won a game without allowing a point. During that game the Rebels hit .769 with 10 kills and no errors in 13 attempts.
Wyoming (15-13, 10-4 WAC) was led by sophomore Melody Friehauf's seven kills.
UNLV, which defeated Wyoming for the first time in its six alltime meetings with the Cowgirls, won for the 11th-straight time at Lied Gymnasium and finished the regular season with a home record of 131.
UNLV outhit the Cowgirls .317 to .049 for the match and recorded 52 kills to UW's 23. The Rebels outdug UW 49-28 and recorded 46 assists to the the Cowgirls' 22.
UNLV's 22 wins this season represents a 13-match improvement in the win column from 1997, as the Rebels finished 9-18, failing to make the WAC Tournament.
UNLV EARNS SECOND TRIP TO THE WAC VOLLEYBALL TOURNEY
UNLV will be participating in its second WAC Volleyball Tournament this week. UNLV last qualified for the tournament in 1996, losing to Utah in the first round.
LAST YEAR
The 1997 UNLV volleyball team opened the season with a bestever start of 71...After suffering some critical injuries the team struggled and finished with an overall record of 918 and seventh in the WAC's Mountain Divison with a 2-14 mark, failing to make the conference tournament.
IN ONLY ITS THIRD YEAR
This is UNLV's third season with volleyball since the program was restarted in '96 after 11 years off.
REBELS EXCEED LAST YEAR'S WIN TOTAL
With its win over Nevada, Reno, on Sept. 28, UNLV won its 10th match of the season in only its 13th try...Last season the Rebels won nine matches total, while losing 18.
UNLV HAS RECORD-SETTING YEAR
UNLV's current win percentage is .759. The best winning percentage a Rebel volleyball team has ever recorded was .588 in 1978 when the squad went 10-7. The most wins a UNLV volleyball team has had was 23 in 1984 when the team was 23-17. The Rebels would need to win their second-round match in the WAC Tournament to equal that total.
REBELS SET RECORD FOR CONSECUTIVE WINS
With its win over TCU on Oct. 17, UNLV won its 10th match in a row, which set the program record for most consecutive vicories. The old mark was seven-in-a-row set in 1984. The Rebels had their streak snapped with the loss at Wyoming on Oct. 23.
UNLV EXCEEDS WIN TOTAL OF LAST TWO YEARS COMBINED
With their 15th win of the season vs. SMU on Oct. 15, the Rebels exceeded their win total of the last two years combined. UNLV won five matches in 1996, its first season after 11 years off, and won nine matches in 1997.
UNLV EXCEEDS LAST YEAR'S CONFERENCE WIN TOTAL
The win at Tulsa on Oct. 10 was UNLV's third conference victory of the season. That exceeds last year's total of two as UNLV was 2-14 in WAC play. UNLV also matched its win total in conference play of the last two years combined with its win over SMU on Oct. 15. UNLV won three WAC matches in 1996 and two in 1997.
UNLV MORE THAN DOUBLES LAST YEAR'S WIN TOTAL
With the win over Tulsa on Nov. 6, UNLV won its 18th match of the year. That doubled last year's win total of nine. With the win over Rice on Nov. 7, UNLV more than doubled last year's win total. For the season, UNLV increased its win total from last year by 13 matches.
UNLV DOMINANT AT HOME
UNLV's record at Lied Gymnasium is 13-1...The Rebels won their last 11 matches at home.
SERIES HISTORY
Utah leads the alltime series with UNLV 40...The all-time series between TCU and UNLV is tied at 11.
THE LAST TIME
The last time UNLV was in the WAC Tournament was in 1996 as it lost to Utah in the first round 15-11, 15-4, 15-8...UNLV last faced Utah in Salt Lake City on Nov. 8, 1997...Utah won that match 15-4, 13-15, 15-7, 15-12...UNLV last faced TCU in Fort Worth on Nov. 13 of this year...TCU won that match 16-14, 15-13, 5-15, 7-15, 16-14.
HEAD COACH DEITRE COLLINS
Head Coach Deitre Collins (Hawaii, '95) is in her third season at UNLV. The 1998 WAC Mountain Division CoCoach of the Year, is a former member of the U.S. National Team and a threetime NCAA AllAmerican middle blocker at Hawai'i. Collins led her first Rebel team to a 1996 WAC Tournament berth and this past summer led the U.S. Junior National Team to a gold medal performance at the NORCECA Zonal Championships, qualifying the team for the junior world championships in 1999. Before being named head coach of the 15th intercollegiate athletics program at UNLV on July 10, 1995, she served as an assistant at the University of South Alabama for one season (1994). Prior to that, she was an assistant at Houston (1993) and Northern Arizona (1993-94). The fourth coach in the history of Rebel volleyball, Collins is the only volleyball player ever to be named the Broderick Cup recipient, earning the award as the best collegiate athlete in 1983. She also is a twotime Broderick Award honoree, being named the best collegiate volleyball player in 1983 and 1984. In 1982 and 1983, she led the Rainbow Wahine to consecutive NCAA Championships as well as a record of 1105 in her final three seasons. Her career head coaching record is 3647.
ASSISTANT COACH KEVIN HAMBLY
Kevin Hambly (BYU, '98) is in his second year as assistant coach at UNLV. He is a former Brigham Young standout volleyball player, playing for the Cougars from 199295. The starting middle blocker from 199395, Hambly was a firstteam AllAmerican in 1995. He was the head coach of Highline, a men's club team in Northridge, Calif., prior to joining the Rebel coaching staff.
ASSISTANT COACH KEE WILLIAMS
Kee Williams (Hawaii '95) was named to the UNLV coaching staff this past summer. Williams, in her first year, came to UNLV from the U.S. National Team where she was training before suffering a careerending injury. A star at Hawai'i from 1990-94, she was a first-team All-American selection and a three-time All-Big West Conference Honoree.
COLLINS NAMED WAC MOUNTAIN DIVISION COACH OF THE YEAR
UNLV Head Coach Deitre Collins was selected as the 1998 WAC Mountain Division Co-Coach of the Year on Nov. 17. Collins, who has led the Rebels since the program was resurrected in 1996, shared honors with Colorado State coach Tom Hilbert.
THREE REBELS SELECTED TO ALL-WAC TEAM
UNLV had three players selected to the all-conference team. It marks the first time UNLV has had players receive the honor. Senior setter Meride Boyer was named to the first team, while sophmore outside hitter Justine Kamelamela and junior outside hitter Angie Sylvas were both selected to the second team.
THREE REBELS EARN WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS
Junior Christel Eves was named the Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the Mountain Division on Nov. 22. It marked the third time this season a UNLV volleyball player has received the honor and the fourth time in the program's history. Eves led the Rebels to a 20 record during the week with wins against Colorado State and Wyoming. For the week, she recorded 22 kills, 14 digs, two service aces, eight total blocks and hit .571.
Senior Meri-de Boyer received the honor on Oct. 19. Boyer led the Rebels to a 20 record during the week with wins against SMU and TCU. Against TCU, she recorded a tripledouble with 55 assists, 10 digs and 11 block assists. Her block assists tied a singlematch school record. She also added eight kills with only one error in 15 attempts for a .467 hitting percentage. Against SMU, she notched 70 assists with 13 digs.
Sophomore Justine Kamelamela received the honor on Sept. 28. Kamelamela led the Rebels to a 20 record that week with wins against Utah State and San Diego State. Against Utah State, she had a matchhigh 14 kills, with only two errors on 28 attempts for a .429 hitting percentage. She also added 10 digs and four total blocks in the match. Against San Diego State, she hit .375 (15332) along with five digs, one assist and one service ace.
MORE REBEL HONORS
Sophomore Justine Kamelamela and junior Christel Eves were both named to the all-tournament team of the Carolina Classic in Chapel Hill, N.C....Kamelamela was named to the all-tournament team of the Official All-Star Cafe/UNLV Volleyball Classic in Las Vegas...Junior Angie Sylvas was named tournament MVP of the Nanook Classic in Fairbanks, Alaska...Senior Meri-de Boyer Kamelamela were both selected to that all-tournament team.
REBEL RECORDS SET
UNLV set four team records vs. Southwest Texas State...They are most kills in a match (102), most attack attempts in a match (254), most assists in a match (89) and most digs in a match (96)...Angie Sylvas set the UNLV individual record for most attack attempts in a match with 75 vs. Southwest Texas State...Against TCU Meride Boyer tied the record for most block assists in a match with 11.
DOUBLETROUBLE
Six Rebels have recorded doubledoubles this season...senior Meride Boyer has 14 in assists and digs, sophomore Justine Kamelamela has 11 in kills and digs, junior Angie Sylvas has 11 in kills and digs, junior Christel Eves has five in kills and digs, junior Danielle Gerlach has three in kills and digs and junior Jeanette Graves has two is kills and digs.
TRIPLEDOUBLE
Senior Meride Boyer recorded the team's first tripledouble of the season when she had 55 assists, 11 block assists and 10 digs vs. TCU.
CAREER HIGHS SET
UNLV players are putting up some impressive numbers this season and have added to their career highs...Meride Boyer had 11 block assists vs. TCU...Christel Eves had 16 kills vs. Idaho, 15 digs at SMU, five service aces vs. Fresno State and nine block assists vs. TCU...Danielle Gerlach had 15 kills vs. SWT...Justine Kamelamela had 29 kills at Rice and 16 digs vs. Duke...Keala Nihipali had 19 digs vs. SWT and 10 assists vs. Air Force...Michele Peoples had 11 kills vs. SWT...Ana Ramos recorded 19 digs vs. Southwest Texas State...Angie Sylvas had 27 kills vs. SWT.
NEWCOMERS STANDOUT
Freshman Nora Bernson turned in a solid performance recording 11 digs and nine kills in the victory over Iowa State and added 14 kills vs. Youngstown State and 12 kills vs. Cincinnati...Most recently she had 15 digs vs. UC Irvine...Sophomore Keala Nihipali has had four games with double figures in digs including a careerhigh 19 digs vs. SWT...Junior Jeanette Graves was impressive vs. Duke, recording 14 kills and seven digs before recording 20 kills vs. Cincinnati...She recorded a careerhigh 25 kills at UC Irvine and 15 digs at TCU...She turned in a matchhigh 22 kills at TCU and a matchhigh 21 kills at SMU...Freshman Amber Graham recorded 12 kills vs. SWT and 13 kills vs. SMU before recording a careerhigh 19 kills at Colorado State...She recorded 11 kills with only two errors in 15 attempts for a hitting percentage of .600 at SMU.
LEADERS OF THE WAC
The Rebels are second in the WAC in assists with 15.34 per game, second in service aces with 1.85 per game, third in kills with 17.21 per game, fifth in hitting efficiency (.230) and seventh in digs (15.57)...Individually Meri-de Boyer, Christel Eves, Amber Graham and Angie Sylvas are all among the WAC leaders...Boyer is second in the WAC in assists with 13.80 per game...Eves is seventh in hitting efficiency at .356 and tied for 14th in blocking with 1.13 per game...Graham is 13th in hitting efficiency at .306...Sylvas is third in service aces with 0.46 per game, is fifth in kills with 4.05 per game, and tied for 16th in digs with 2.67 per game.
AMONG NCAA LEADERS
Through matches of Nov. 15, UNLV was 13th in the nation in kills with 17.18 per game...UNLV was 14th in the nation in assists with 15.33 per game...Individually, senior setter Meride Boyer was 12th in the nation in assists per game at 13.84...Stats are updated every Tuesday.
REBEL POWER RATING
In the AVCA/Sagarin Power Ratings through Nov. 15, UNLV was 64th in the nation...Utah was 31st, while TCU was 179th...As a conference the WAC was fifth in the nation out of 32...The new ratings come out every Wednesday.
OTHER REBEL NOTES
The Rebels had five players record double figures in digs vs. Duke, while three had double figures in kills...UNLV had four players record double figures in digs vs. New Mexico State...The Rebels had five players record double figures in digs vs. SWT and five had doubledigits in kills, two with more than 25...UNLV had four players record doublefigures in kills vs. Idaho...The Rebels had three players in double figures in digs vs. North Carolina...UNLV had four players in double figures in kills and digs vs. Cincinnati...The win over #24 Fresno State was UNLV' s first over a ranked opponent since the program restarted in 1996...It was also the first time UNLV has won more than one game in a match against a ranked team since the program restarted in 1996...UNLV allowed Air Force to hit only .051 for the match which is the lowest opponent hitting percentage of the season against UNLV...Air Force recorded only 17 kills which is also the lowest for a UNLV opponent this season...UNLV had four players record double figures in kills vs. SMU...The Rebels had 32 block assists vs. TCU, which is the most they have had in a match this season...For the first time since the program restarted in 1996, the UNLV volleyball team received votes in the USA Today/AVCA collegiate volleyball poll...In the Oct. 5 poll the Rebels received 12 votes and in the Oct. 12 poll UNLV received seven votes...At Colorado State, UNLV had four players in double figures in kills and three in digs...At UC Irvine three players recorded double figures in kills and four in digs...The Rebels recorded their highest hitting percentage of the season vs. Tulsa with .378...UNLV had three players record doublefigures in kills and four in digs vs. Rice...At TCU, UNLV had five players in doublefigures in both kills and digs...At SMU, UNLV had four players record double figures in kills...Against Colorado State, UNLV had four players record doublefigures in kills and three in digs...Against Wyoming, UNLV scored 22 unanswered points at one point during the match..The Rebels hit .317 in the match, their secondhighest output of the season.
UNLV'S RECORD WHEN IT:
wins the first game..20-2wins the second game..16-1wins the third game..19-3wins the fourth game..9-2plays a threegame match..11-1plays a fourgame match..8-4plays a fivegame match..3-2has more kills than opp..22-7has fewer kills than opp..0-0has equal kills as opp..0-0has higher hitting % than opp..22-1has lower hitting % than opp..0-6has equal hitting % as opp..0-0has more team blocks than opp..15-0has fewer team blocks than opp..5-5has equal team blocks as opp..2-2has more digs than opp..17-4has fewer digs than opp..5-3has equal digs as opp..1-0has more assists than opp..21-5has fewer assists than opp..1-2has equal assists as opponent..0-0has more service aces than opp..17-4has fewer service aces than opp..3-2has equal service aces as opp..2-1
STANDINGS
1998 WAC Volleyball Standings (as of 11/22)
Mountain Division
WAC Matches All Matches W L Pct. W L Pct.Colorado State 12 2 .584 23 6 .793UNLV 11 3 .786 22 7 .759Rice 10 4 .714 22 9 .710Wyoming 10 4 .714 15 13 .536SMU 5 9 .357 14 16 .467TCU 4 10 .286 7 22 .241Tulsa 2 12 .143 11 16 .407Air Force 2 12 .143 9 17 .346
Pacific Division
WAC Matches All Matches W L Pct. W L Pct.Brigham Young 13 1 .929 26 2 .929Hawai'i 13 1 .929 26 2 .929Utah 9 5 .643 19 8 .704San Jose State 7 7 .500 19 10 .655Fresno State 7 7 .500 18 9 .667New Mexico 3 11 .214 9 17 .346UTEP 2 12 .143 10 15 .400San Diego State 2 12 .143 5 23 .179
INTERVIEWS Interviews with UNLV volleyball players and coaches may be arranged through volleyball SID Andy Grossman. Requests for interviews should be made at least 24 hours in advance by calling the UNLV sports information department. COACHES' POLL 1998 WAC Volleyball Coaches' Preseason Poll
Pacific Division
Brigham Young (13) 118Hawai'i (3) 105Utah 88Fresno State 73San Diego State 72New Mexico 49San Jose State 37UTEP 26
Mountain Division
Colorado State (13) 117Wyoming (3) 108SMU 76UNLV 72TCU 63Rice 59Tulsa 47Air Force 22
1998 WAC Champion
Brigham Young 13Hawai'i 3
REBELS ONLY, PLEASE!
Please remember, UNLV (acronym on all references please) is home to the Rebel volleyball team not the Runnin' Rebels! Only the men's basketball team at UNLV is named the Runnin' Rebels.
1998 WAC TOURNAMENT
The 1998 WAC Tournament makes its return to Las Vegas after a successful 1997 event. The tournament will be held TuesdaySaturday, Nov. 24-28, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The top six teams from each division will participate in the fourround tournament, with matches every day except Thanksgiving (Nov. 26). The MGM Grand Hotel will serve as the tournament headquarters. Ticket prices are $30 for an allsession pass (11 matches) or $8 per single session (six total sessions). Tickets may be purchased by calling 1-800-929-1111.
