Nov. 14, 2004
Final Stats
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - UNLV swept Air Force in three games Saturday night in Colorado Springs, Colo., as the Rebels won 30-20, 30-28 and 30-25, giving UNLV its first winning season since 1998. It was also just the second winning season for Rebel volleyball since the sport was brought back in 1996.
Freshman outside hitter Brittani Lumsden led a balanced offensive attack for the Rebels with 15 kills. Lumsden also dug up nine balls, barely missing her tenth double-double of the season. Tarin Keith knocked down 14 kills and Mariana Pencheva added 12.
Nicki King guided the offense, handing out 45 assists as the Rebels hit .304 as a team, including .381 in the Rebels' game one win. UNLV's defense, which blocked eight balls and had 42 digs as a team, held Air Force to a .183 hitting percentage.
The win moved the Rebels to 14-11, 8-6 in the Mountain West Conference, under first-year head coach Allison Keeley, who was hired last January to turn around the struggling program which had endured five-straight losing seasons. The 8-6 mark in conference play gives the Rebels a fourth-place finish in the MWC after being picked to finish sixth in the conference at the beginning of the season. Utah and Colorado State shared the MWC regular season title while BYU finished third.
Lamecca Jefferson had 14 kills and Molly White added 10 for the Falcons, who remained winless in the MWC at 0-14, 4-20 overall.
UNLV will now play Wyoming in the opening round of the MWC Tournament in Fort Collins, Colo., on Thursday. The Rebels swept the regular season series against the Cowgirls, winning 3-2 in Las Vegas on Oct. 3 and then 3-1 in Laramie, Wyo., on Oct. 29.
