Aug. 25, 2005
LAS VEGAS -
Week One Game Notes
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Rebels Open Up On The Road
The 2005 UNLV volleyball season will be served up at 5 pm on Friday. The Rebels head west to Northridge, Calif., to play in the Fremont Investment & Loan Invitational hosted by Cal State Northridge. UNLV will open the season against the Saint Mary's (Calif.) Gaels in the second match of the day. The host Matadors and Arizona State Sun Devils are scheduled play UNLV at 10:30 am and 5 pm, respectively, on Saturday.
Building Upon `04
UNLV witnessed the rebirth of its volleyball program in 2004. With the help of first-year head coach Allison Keeley and a fresh lineup, the Rebels turned the `04 season into a success.
The Rebels closed out 2004 with a 15-12 record and a Mountain West Conference mark of 8-6. The 15 wins rank as the third-most in the program's history, while the eight league victories were the most by any UNLV squad since the inception of the MWC in 1999.
More importantly, the Rebels finished 2004 with a winning mark, the first such occurrence since the 1998 season in which the team posted 23 wins to eight losses. Last year's finish came in as the Rebels' fifth-best winning percentage (.556).
The 2005 edition welcomes the return of eight players from the `04 squad, as well as seven fresh faces. Only three upper classmen are listed on this season's roster. Class wise the team is young, especially with five sophomores and seven freshmen. It can be said that the sophomores have plenty of experience, as all five saw extensive action in `04.
A Look Ahead
The Rebels will play 29 matches: four regular season tournaments, 16 MWC matches and one non-conference single match (Nevada, Reno).
There are three squads (Saint Mary's, San Diego and Colorado State) on the schedule that finished the `04 season ranked in the top 25. Twelve opponents made it into the NCAA Tournament. When the CSTV/AVCA Division I Coaches Preseason Poll was released there were four schools ranked in the top 25 (#18 San Diego, #22 Colorado State, #23 Saint Mary's and #24 Long Beach State) and five more (Santa Clara, Utah, Illinois, Nevada-Reno and BYU) in the receiving votes category.
