Sept. 7, 1999
Fri., Sept. 10 UNLV vs. Louisville 4:30 p.m. EDTSat., Sept. 11 UNLV vs. Rutgers 2:30 p.m. EDT UNLV vs. Maryland 7:30 p.m. EDT
Matches at Ritchie Coliseium, College Park, Md. (1,850 capacity)
The UNLV volleyball team will hit the road for its first trip of the year as it travels to College Park, Md., to compete in the Terrapin Invitational. Competing in the event will be UNLV, Louisville, Rutgers, Maryland and Colorado State. UNLV will face everyone except Colorado State in the event. The Rebels will face Louisville on Friday, Sept. 10, at 4:30 p.m. EDT in their only match of the day. On Saturday, Sept. 11, UNLV will face Rutgers at 2:30 p.m. and Maryland at 7:30 p.m. All matches will be played at Ritchie Coliseum (1,850) in College Park, Md.
THE OPPONENTS
Louisville (1-2) opened the season with losses to Pacific and Notre Dame, both 3-0. The Cardinals defeated Nortwestern 3-1 for their only win. Louisville finished the 1998 season with an overall record of 29-5. The Cardinals are coached by Leonid Yelin, who is in his fourth year at Louisville with a record of 72-24. He has a nine-year overall mark of 186-60. Louisville is led by Sonja Percan, who is averaging 5.40 kills per game.
Rutgers (2-1) opened the season with wins over New Hampshire 3-1 and Holy Cross 3-0. The Scarlet Knights? only loss came to Oregon 3-1. Rutgers finished the 1998 season with an overall record of 16-14. The Scarlet Knights are coached by Ann Leonard-House, who is in her sixth year at Rutgers with a record of 73-85. She has a 13-year overall mark of 254-173. Rutgers is led by Lola Opadiran, who is averaging 4.56 kills per game.
Maryland (2-2) opened the season with wins over Villanova 3-1 and Akron 3-1. The Terrapins lost to Bradley and Penn State, both 3-0. Maryland finished the 1998 season with an overall record of 13-16. The Terrapins are coached by Janice Kruger, who is in her 12th year at Maryland with a record of 221-130. She has a 22-year career mark of 593-232-6. Maryland is led by Beth Murphy, who is averaging 4.57 kills per game.
THE REBELS
UNLV (3-0) opened the season with wins over UMKC, Iowa State and Southern Illinois, all by the score of 3-0. UNLV returns nine players and five starters from last year?s squad that finished the season with an overall record of 23-8. The Rebels finished tied for second in the Western Athletic Conference?s Mountain Division with a mark of 11-3. Head Coach Deitre Collins is in her fourth season and has a career record of 40-48.
NEW FACES
The Rebels welcome the addition of six newcomers in Shannon Chase, a 5-9 freshman outside hitter/defensive specialist from Las Vegas, Nev., who transferred to UNLV from Colorado State (but didn?t play intercollegiate volleyball there), Alicia Erickson, a 6-4 sophomore middle blocker from Las Vegas, Nev., who transferred from Washington State, Oge Fitz, a 5-10 sophomore outside hitter from San Jose, Calif., who transferred from Cal State Fullerton, Maria Julia Goes, a 5-9 sophomore setter from Sorocaba, Brazil, who transferred from National American University, Leiana Oswald, a 6-0 freshman middle blocker from Burnaby, B.C., and Robyn Shea a 5-10 junior setter from Salt Lake City, Utah, who transferred from Weber State.
REBEL RETURNERS
The Rebels return nine players from last year?s squad. Included in those nine are five seniors. The Rebels return two all-conference players in second team All-WAC selections Angie Sylvas and Justine Kamelamela. Sylvas, a 5-11 senior outside hitter, was also selected to the All-WAC Tournament Team last season. She led the team in kills per game and digs per game last season. Kamelamela, a 6-0 junior outside hitter, was second on the team in kills per game and third in digs per game. Also returning are Nora Bernson, a 5-10 sophomore outside hitter, Christel Eves, a 5-10 senior middle blocker, Danielle Gerlach, a 6-0 senior outside hitter, Amber Graham, a 5-11 sophomore middle blocker, Jeanette Graves, a 6-1 senior outside hitter, Ana Ramos, a 5-4 junior defensive specialist, and Kendra Wilkinson, a 5-4 senior defensive specialist.
PROBABLE REBEL STARTERS
No. Player Pos. Ht. Yr.-Exp. Hometown/Last School 1999 UNLV Statistics 3 Nora Bernson OH 5-10 So.-1V Albuquerque, N.M./St. Pius X HS 1.89 dpg, 0.44 sapg14 Christel Eves MB 5-10 Sr.-3V Henderson, Nev./Basic HS 2.44 kpg, 1.11 bpg 6 Jeanette Graves OH 6-1 Sr.-1V West Jordan, Utah/Salt Lake City CC 2.75 kpg, 0.75 dpg 4 Justine Kamelamela OH 6-0 Jr.-2V Aiea, Hawai?i/Maryknoll HS 4.14 kpg, 2.29 dpg 1 Robyn Shea S 5-10 Jr.-TR Salt Lake City, Utah/Weber State 12.13 apg, 1.00 bpg15 Angie Sylvas OH 5-11 Sr.-1V Las Vegas, Nev./San Jose State 4.71 kpg, 2.29 dpg
THE LAST TIME
Last year, UNLV opened the season on the road with three wins at the Nanook Classic in Fairbanks, Alaska. The Rebels ended up winning their first five matches of the year.
LAST WEEK
Last week, UNLV won the title of the Official All-Star Cafe/UNLV Volleyball Classic by defeating UMKC 15-9, 15-3, 15-5, Iowa State 15-11, 15-4, 15-6 and Southern Illinois 15-7, 15-1, 15-5. The Rebels won their season-opening tournament for the third straight season as well as starting the year 3-0 for the third straight season. UNLV won the Official All-Star Cafe/UNLV Volleyball Classic for the first time in three tries. Senior Angie Sylvas was named tournament MVP, while senior Christel Eves and junior Robyn Shea were selected as all-tournament.
NEXT WEEK
UNLV will host its second tournament of the season next week as it hosts New Orleans, Oral Roberts and Southern California on Sept. 17-18. Oral Roberts will face Southern California on Friday, Sept. 17 at 5:00 p.m. PDT, and UNLV will face New Orleans at 7:30 p.m. The two losers will then square off in the consolation match on Saturday, Sept. 18 at 1:00 p.m., and the two winners from the first day will face each other in the championship at 4:00 p.m.
SERIES HISTORY
UNLV has never faced Louisville, Rutgers or Maryland in volleyball.
UNLV CHOSEN TO FINISH FOURTH IN MWC BY COACHES
The 1999 Mountain West Conference Volleyball Preseason Coaches? Poll predicts UNLV will finish fourth out of eight teams in the conference following the 1999 campaign. The following is the order that the MWC coaches predict the conference will end up this season: Brigham Young, Colorado State, Utah, UNLV, Wyoming, New Mexico, San Diego State and Air Force.
UNLV RECEIVES VOTES IN PRESEASON POLL FOR FIRST TIME
For the first time in program history, the UNLV volleyball team opened a season after being mentioned in the USA Today/AVCA preseason national poll. UNLV received votes three separate weeks in 1998, but has never received prior mention in a preseason national poll. This year, the Rebels received one vote in the preseason poll. Topping the preseason poll was Penn State, followed closely by Stanford, Nebraska, Hawai?i and 1998 NCAA champion Long Beach State.
UNLV DOMINATES IN FIRST WEEKEND
UNLV has some impressive stats over its opponents after the first weekend of play...UNLV is out-hitting its opponents .330 to .063 and has recorded 148 kills to 79. The Rebels have also recorded 140 assists to their opponents? 72, is out-digging opponents 103-74 and out-blocking them 25-15.
REBEL REWARDS
UNLV won the title of the Official All-Star Cafe/UNLV Volleyball Classic with a 3-0 mark. Senior Angie Sylvas was named MVP of the tournament, while senior Christel Eves and junior Robyn Shea were both named to the all-tournament team.
HEAD COACH DEITRE COLLINS
Head coach Deitre Collins is now in her fourth year at UNLV. Collins, who is a former member of the U.S. National Team and a three-time NCAA All-American middle blocker at Hawai?i, led UNLV to a 23-8 record in 1998. The team advanced to the semifinals of the WAC Tournament and recorded its best-ever win percentage for a season. For her efforts, Collins was honored with the 1998 WAC Mountain Division Co-Coach of the Year award. 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). Collins, who is the fourth coach in the history of Rebel volleyball, graduated from Hawai?i in 1995 with a bachelor of arts degree in broadcast communications. She is the only volleyball player ever to be named the Broderick Cup recipient, earning the award as the best female collegiate athlete in 1983. She also is a two-time Broderick Award honoree, being named the best collegiate volleyball player for the seasons of 1982 and 1983. Those same years, she led the Rainbow Wahine to consecutive NCAA championships as well as a record of 110-5 in her final three seasons. Her career head coaching record is 40-48.
ASSISTANT COACH KEVIN HAMBLY
Kevin Hambly (BYU, ?98) is in his third year as assistant coach at UNLV. He is a former Brigham Young standout volleyball player, playing for the Cougars from 1992-95. The starting middle blocker from 1993-95, Hambly was a first-team All-American 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 CARRIE PENFIELD
Carrie Penfield (Arizona ?98) is in her first season as assistant coach at UNLV. Penfield came to UNLV from the U.S. National Team where she played from January to April, 1998. At Arizona, she was All-Pac-10 her senior season.
DIR. OF VOLLEYBALL KEE WILLIAMS
Kee Williams (Hawai?i ?95) is in her second year with UNLV. Williams came to UNLV from the U.S. National Team where she was training before suffering a career-ending 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.
LAST YEAR
In only its third season back on campus after an 11-year hiatus, the 1998 UNLV volleyball team finished the season 23-8 and recorded its best winning percentage for a season in program history. The team finished second in the WAC?s Mountain Division with an 11-3 mark. The team, which qualified for its second WAC Tournament, recorded its first-ever postseason win over Utah and advanced to the semifinals falling to No. 6 Brigham Young. Head Coach Deitre Collins was named the WAC?s Mountain Division Co-Coach of the Year. The team eclipsed its win total of the year before of nine in only its 13th match of the season and set the record for most consecutive wins with 10 at one point during the year. UNLV was dominant at home, going 13-1 at the Lied Gymnasium.
LAST YEAR?S INDIVIDUAL ACCOLADES
UNLV had three players named to the All-WAC team in 1998. Meri-de Boyer, who has graduated, was UNLV?s first-ever first team All-WAC member, while Angie Sylvas and Justine Kamelamela were both selected to the second team. Sylvas was also named to the All-WAC Tournament Team, which made her the first Rebel ever to be named to that team. Christel Eves, Boyer and Kamelamela were all named WAC Player of the Week at one point during the season. Kamelamela was named to the all-tournament team of the Carolina Classic, the Official All-Star Cafe/UNLV Volleyball Classic and the Nanook Classic. Eves was on the all-tournament team at the Carolina Classic. Sylvas was named MVP of the Nanook Classic, while Boyer was named all-tournament at the Nanook Classic.
