Nov. 12, 2006
Final Stats
LAS VEGAS - In a race to 18 victories the UNLV volleyball team won out over the visiting Colorado State Rams on Sunday afternoon at the Cox Pavilion. The Rebels (18-9 overall, 9-6 Mountain West Conference) rallied from a 2-1 deficit for a 3-2 victory on "Senior Day" as UNLV honored Kristin Koochi and Michelle Banks. UNLV won the match with game-scores of 30-24, 22-30, 25-30, 30-28, 15-13.
The victory over CSU was the first for UNLV since Nov. 4, 2005, in a match that was played in Fort Collins, Colo. Although the Rebels had only played the Rams once since that match, today's win was the first for UNLV in Las Vegas since Oct. 16, 1999.
More importantly, the win signifies that UNLV will finish in fourth-place in conference play with their 9-6 record. The Rebels have one match remaining with a road contest at San Diego State on Nov. 17.
UNLV was led by four players collecting double-doubles. Maria Aladjova (15 kills, 15 digs) and Brittani Lumsden (15 kills, 10 digs) used a combination of kills and digs to achieve the feat, while Koochi (26 assists, 14 digs) and Melody Nua (35 assists, 10 digs) collected double-digits in assists and digs.
Offensively, Lauren Miramontes topped the Rebels in kills with 18 and hit for a team-high .333 percentage. Aladjova and Lumsden were joined by Banks' 12 kills in rounding out Rebels with 10 or more kills.
Defensively, Jada Walker held the team-high in digs with 23 and was joined by five other teammates with double-figure tallies. Besides Aladjova's, Lumsden's, Koochi's and Nua's totals in the dig department, Camille Cunningham joined the fray with her 16 stops.
At the net, Miramontes and Samantha Noland each blocked five CSU attacks, but all of Miramontes' were assisted, while Noland had one solo block.
Colorado State had three players reach double-double status as Tonya Mokelki had a match-high 21 kills and mixed in 14 digs. Jaime Strauss put together 19 kills and 17 digs to accomplish the feat, while Katherine Whitney used a combination of 11 kills and 18 digs.
Other notable Rams were Mekana Barnes (20 kills), Ashley Fornstrom (68 assists) and Katelin Batten (25 digs).
The Rebels out hit CSU .244 to .223, but trailed in kills 73-to-87. The Rams amassed 10 more hitting errors than UNLV (34-to-24) to factor into the lower hitting percentage. CSU collected six more helpers on kills with a 76-to-70 figure. UNLV dug out 14 more attacks than the Rams with 101 digs to 87.
In UNLV's game one victory the Rebels took hold of the match after falling behind 4-3 and then reeled off five straight points for an 8-4 advantage. From that point on the Rebels never looked back as they cruised to the win.
Game two was similar to its predecessor in that UNLV held a 12-8 lead only to watch CSU rattle off six consecutive points to push out to a 14-12 lead. The Rebels scored the next point to pull within one at 14-13, but watched CSU win the next eight to extend its lead to 22-13 before taking the game.
Game three was a see-saw affair in that both teams had leads early on, but it wasn't until CSU trailed 17-15 that the tides turned. Trailing by two, the Rams won five straight points to take a 20-17 lead. UNLV pulled within one on three occasions, but couldn't find the equalizer prior to the Rams win.
UNLV knotted the match at two-games apiece with the win in game four. The Rebels evened the score at 15-15 and won the next three points to lead 18-15. The Rams followed the similar path as the Rebels did in the third frame, in that they would get within one-point but never managed to tie the game. UNLV had three game-point opportunities beginning with a 29-26 score, but witnessed CSU win two straight points before finally succumbing at 30-28.
The fifth stanza was nothing short of exciting. The only moment that either team held more than a one-point lead was when the final score read 15-13 on the scoreboard. Both squads would alternate points or win two in a row, but nothing to push out to more than a minimal lead. There were 13 ties and seven lead changes in the game.
Up next for UNLV is the final regular season match for the Rebels in 2006. The San Diego State Aztecs will play host to UNLV next Friday, Nov. 17, in each teams' final tune-up before the Mountain West Conference volleyball tournament in Las Vegas on Nov. 22-25.
