Nov. 7, 2004
Final Stats
LAS VEGAS, Nev. - UNLV could not match No. 17 ranked Utah at the net Saturday night as the Utes remained perfect in Mountain West Conference play this season, sweeping the Rebels 3-0 (30-18, 30-26 and 30-20) at the Cox Pavilion.
Utah, the second top-25 team that the Rebels have played at home this season, improved to 12-0 in the MWC, 20-3 overall. UNLV dropped its third straight MWC match to fall to 6-6 in conference play, 12-10 overall. The three-match losing streak is the longest of the season for the Rebels, who had won four in a row before their current skid.
Utah took control of the match from the very beginning, scoring 10 of the first 13 points in the match to race out to a 10-3 lead. Shelley Sommerfeldt had three kills in the run and Lyndsey Henderson and Amie Toone each had two. A kill by Rebel outside hitter Maria Aladjova cut the lead to 14-10, but that was as close as the Rebels would get. UNLV would get only one more kill from that point on in the game, as they hit -.108 in the opening game with just five kills and nine errors.
In the second game UNLV grabbed early leads of 4-1, 10-5 and 12-7, taking advantage of an improved blocking game. The Rebels had several blocks early on in game two and finished the match with 10 blocks, their highest total in six matches. Utah refused to go away, knotting the score at 15-15 with back-to-back kills from Henderson. Utah took its first lead of the match off an attacking error by Aladjova, and never trailed again in winning the second game.
After the intermission, UU scored the first four points of the third game and never looked back, hitting a match-high .361 in the deciding game-three. UNLV managed to tie the score at 8-8, but could not take the lead and lost back-to-back matches at the Cox Pavilion for the first time this season. UNLV was 7-2 at home before losing to Utah tonight and BYU last night.
Utah out-hit UNLV .280 to .065 in the match, as the Utes had 54 kills compared to 29 for the Rebels. Both teams were nearly even in errors, as UNLV committed 22 and Utah had 21. The difference in the match was defensively, as Utah had 49 digs and UNLV had 37. Aladjova finished the match with eight kills, as no player from UNLV reached double-digits. Nicki King had 24 assists and Jada Walker added 13 digs.
Utah was led by Henderson's 15 kills while Kelsie Kartchner added 12 kills and 26 assists for a double-double. Tracy Neumeier added 24 assists. Connie Dangerfield dug up 15 balls and Danielle Leichliter had another 12 digs for the Utes' defense.
The Rebels wrap up their 2004 home-schedule against in-state rival Nevada, Reno at 5:00 p.m. (PST) in the Cox Pavilion on Sunday afternoon. It is the final home match for UNLV seniors King and Tarin Keith.
