April 12, 2005

LAS VEGAS - Marissa Nichols was named the Mountain West Conference's Player of the Week. This makes the fifth such instance that Nichols has received the award. Prior to Nichols arrival on campus, no player had won the conference player of the week award three times in a single season. There had been two pitchers to claim the pitcher of the week award three times in a season (1989 - Lori Harrigan & 1994 - Amie Stewart), but no player.

In four starts against MWC competition (BYU and Utah), Nichols hit .538 (7-for-13) with a home run, two doubles, one RBI, four runs scored and two stolen bases, while hitting safely in all four contests. She went 3-for-6 in a doubleheader against BYU. In a game two victory, she went 2-for-2 with an RBI and three runs scored. Her final at-bat in game two proved to be the game winner as she hit her team-leading 11th home run in the sixth inning in a 6-5 win. In the second game 4-3 win over Utah, Nichols went 3-for-3 and scored a run. She stole two bases on the weekend to give her 25 thefts in 25 attempts. The 25 steals ties a UNLV all-time single season record.

On the season, Nichols leads the MWC in batting average (.448), on-base percentage (.509), runs scored (45), hits (65), triples (six), stolen bases (25) and total bases (124), and is second in slugging percentage (.855), doubles (14) and home runs (11).