Sept. 15, 2005
LAS VEGAS -
Week Four Game Notes in PDF Format
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California Bound, Once Again
The final regular season tournament for the Rebels is slated for this weekend in San Diego, Calif. This will be the first of two appearances for UNLV in the area, as San Diego State hosts the Rebels on Nov. 9, in a Mountain West Conference match. In the University of San Diego Invitational, UNLV is scheduled to play #18 San Diego, Arkansas and American in a three-day span (Sept. 15-17). So far in `05, UNLV holds a 2-3 record in its five matches previously played in the Golden State.
Last Week In Review
The Rebels opened up their home schedule last weekend by hosting the UNLV Volleyball Classic. After spending the first two weekends on the road, UNLV hosted Illinois, Rutgers, then-#22 Long Beach State and then-#11 Louisville to the Cox Pavilion. The Rebels defeated Rutgers in four, but dropped five-game matches to Illinois and Long Beach State. UNLV did not play Louisville.
In their first home match, the Rebels and Fighting Illini swapped games from the start with Illinois taking games 1 and 3, as UNLV took games 2 and 4. The decisive fifth game went the way of the visitors. The Illini won 3-2 with scores of 30-22, 22-30, 30-26, 26-30, 15-12. The Rebels stayed in the match with help from a double-double by Maria Aladjova (22 kills, 12 digs) and double-digit kills from Brittani Lumsden (18), Michelle Banks (12) and Lauren Miramontes (10).
On Saturday morning, UNLV's lone win came against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in four games. After the teams split games one and two, the Rebels took #3 and 4 for the victory. UNLV won the match 3-1, with scores of : 30-20, 23-30, 30-16, 30-17. Aladjova (17k, 13d), Banks (13k, 15d) and Lumsden (12k, 10d) tallied double-doubles, while Melody Nua tossed up a match-high 53 assists. Banks and Jada Walker tied for the team-lead in digs with 15.
In the finale of the Classic, then-#22 Long Beach State received a scare from UNLV with the Rebels rallying from a 2-1 deficit to send the match into a fifth game. The Rebels jumped out to a 1-0 lead, but the 49ers struck for wins in games 2 and 3. The final game score was 16-30, 30-25, 30-20, 22-30, 15-11. For the third-straight match, Aladjova led UNLV in kills with 20, while digging out 10 balls for her third double-double of the weekend. Lumsden had 12 kills and 12 digs, while Mariana Pencheva (17) and Lauren Miramontes (13) rounded out the Rebels in double-digit kills. Nua assisted on a match-high 56 kills. Banks and Walker each had 15 digs.
Back-to-Back Balloting
For the second-straight weekend, Maria Aladjova and Melody Nua were selected to all-tournament teams. At this past weekend's UNLV Volleyball Classic, Aladjova led all Rebels with 59 kills for 4.21 kpg and a hitting percentage of .378. She amassed three double-doubles in all Rebel matches of the Classic.
Melody Nua helped out on 160 kills for a 11.43 assists-per-game average. In all UNLV had 192 assists on the weekend with, Nua setting up 83% of the assisted kills. She even dropped nine kills in for a .409 hitting percentage.
