Oct. 25, 2007
Final Stats
LAS VEGAS - The UNLV volleyball team squared off in the Cox Pavilion with the #18 Colorado State Rams on Thursday night with each team riding winning streaks. UNLV extended its winning streak to six with its 3-0 win over CSU, which snapped the Rams' eight-match run. The Rebels (17-3 overall, 8-2 Mountain West) won the match in sweeping fashion by scores of 30-16, 30-27, 30-22. With the loss, CSU falls to 15-5 on the year and 9-2 in league play.
Since the program's rebirth in 1996, this is the first time that UNLV has defeated two ranked teams in a season. UNLV beat then-#12 BYU on Sept. 13 and #18 Colorado State tonight. It is also the first time that the Rebels have defeated CSU, BYU and Utah in the same year.
UNLV out-hit CSU .310 to .165, as the Rebels tallied 53 kills to the Rams' 42. The Rebels hit a staggering .341 in game one with 20 kills, while CSU mustered only a .081 (eight kills). Game two was the hardest fought of all the frames as UNLV hit .310 to CSU's .283. In game three, UNLV slugged a .273 to CSU's .105.
The Rebels were led by Lauren Miramontes' 15 kills and her .414 hitting efficiency. In 29 attempts, Miramontes only accumulated three errors. She carried her hot hand into tonight's match, as her .414 extends her streak of hitting over .320 to six matches. On the defensive side of the net, she pitched in seven blocks (one solo) and three digs.
Maria Aladjova joined Miramontes in the double-digit kill category with 10 of her own. Aladjova contributed six digs, four assisted blocks and two assists.
Melody Nua notched match-highs of 37 assists and hitting efficiency of .714 (five kill minimum). Nua knocked down five kills in seven attempts without collecting an error. Defensively, she had five assisted blocks and three digs.
Brittani Lumsden had a match-high in digs with 14 and was closely followed by 12 picked up by Camille Cunningham.
CSU was led by Mekana Barnes' 12 kills and .476 hitting efficiency. Jamie Strauss notched double-digit kills, as well, with 10 of her own. Ashley Fornstrom led the Rams in assists with 34. Audrey Hemmings and Katelin Batten tied for the team-lead in digs with eight apiece.
In game one, the teams exchanged points and held five ties until UNLV got back-to-back kills from Aladjova and Lumsden to push out to a 7-5 lead. From that point on, UNLV controlled the game. With the score 9-8 in UNLV's favor, the Rebels won six straight for a 15-8 advantage. The Rebels increased its lead to 14 on three occasions, including the final score at 30-16.
CSU broke open a 6-6 tie with two points coming from a kill by Strauss and an attacking error by Erin Greenwood. The Rams held a small lead up until UNLV won two consecutive points off of kills by Lumsden and Nua to tie the score at 18-18. From the 18-18 tie, there were six ties. With UNLV holding a one-point lead at 25-24, the game turned in the Rebels' favor when CSU's Tonya Mokelki's attack was called out, which upset Rams' head coach Tom Hilbert. UNLV blocked Mokelki's next attack for a 27-24 lead, which caused Hilbert to be assessed a yellow card for his actions. The Rebels wound up scoring four of the final six points in the game for the 30-26 win.
Game three was tied at 5-5 before UNLV won five in-a-row to take a 10-5 lead. CSU battled back to cut its deficit to two at 12-10, 13-11 and 14-12, but would never get any closer as the game progressed. The Rebels notched two runs of five points in the game and eventually won by a 30-22 margin.
UNLV hits the road next weekend with matches on the road at Air Force and Wyoming. The Rebels serve it up on Nov. 1 in Colorado Springs, Colo., against the Falcons and follow that up on the 3rd in Laramie, Wyo., against the Cowgirls.
