Sept. 26, 2007
LAS VEGAS -
Weekly Release #6 in PDF Format
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First Serve: The UNLV Rebels stay on the road after spending this past weekend in California with matches at San Diego State and Santa Clara. The Rebels will only play once this week with a Saturday match-up with Mountain West Conference foe Colorado State (8-4, 2-1 MWC). CSU and UNLV are both receiving votes in this week's CSTV/AVCA Coaches Top 25 Poll with the Rams coming in at #27 and the Rebels at #31.
Week Five Opponent:
Colorado State Rams: 8-4 overall, 2-1 MWC
~ Predicted MWC Finish - 2nd.
~ CSU leads the all-time series 20-4, although UNLV has won two of the last three meetings.
~ The Rams are led by Mekana Barnes, who has been named the MWC's Player of the Week on three occasions this year (and once on the national stage). Barnes leads the team in blocks with 86 and is tied for the team-lead in kills with Jaime Strauss at 191 (4.06 kpg). Ashley Fornstrom leads the team in assists with 624 (13.28apg) and Katelin Batten is tops in digs with 195 (4.15 dpg).
Rebels In The Poll: After going 1-1 this past weekend in California, the Rebels dropped five spots from 26th to 31st in the "receiving votes" category of the CSTV/AVCA Top 25 Poll. Currently, UNLV sits behind Middle Tennessee, Colorado State, Long Beach State, Ohio State, Sacramento State and Missouri State.
Last week's poll was the first time in the program's history that UNLV ranked so highly. The Rebels were 26th and only sat 23 points behind then-#25 New Mexico State.
This week's opponent, Colorado State, jumped two spots closer to cracking the Top 25. The Rams were 29th last week and moved up to 27th this week with help from beating then-#17 BYU in Provo, Utah. CSU did suffer a five-game loss at Utah to give them a 1-1 record for the week.
Rebels' RKPI Ranks 15th: In the latest Nitty Gritty Report produced by RichKern.com, the Rebels own the 15th-best RKPI in the country. After going 1-1 this past weekend, the Rebels dropped from 6th to 15th. Overall, UNLV is one of only three teams in the Top 15 to have only played competition ranked 1-125, as there are over 321 schools playing NCAA Division I volleyball. UNLV joins Texas (RKPI #7) and Oklahoma (RKPI #10) as the only three to achieve the feat.
UNLV's RKPI is aided by holding a 3-1 record vs. schools ranked 1-50, including a 2-0 mark vs. those in the 1-25 range. From the 51-125 range, they are 8-1.
This week's opponent, Colorado State, comes in ranked #22. CSU is 3-4 against schools in the 1-50 range, 4-0 vs. 51-125 and 1-0 against the remainder.
The Queen Of Kills: Heading into the 2007 season, Maria Aladjova sat second in the UNLV career all-time record book for kills with 1,136. Aladjova trailed Leiana Oswald's 1,350 by only 214 before the first serve of the year. She had cut the lead to only 42 kills heading into this last weekend's matches. After knocking down 27 at San Diego State (Sept. 21), she was only 15 shy of tying the illustrious mark. Against Santa Clara (Sept. 23), she took care of business to etch her name atop the chart with 20 vs. the Broncos. She surpassed Oswald by five and currently sits in first place with 1,355 career kills.
Nationally Speaking - Team: The UNLV volleyball team ranks nationally in per-game statistics in assists, digs and kills, as well as being tied for the 17th-best winning percentage. The statistics are compiled through Sept. 23.
~ Assists: UNLV ranks 11th with an average of 15.49 apg. Nebraska leads with a 16.81 apg.~ Digs: UNLV ranks 4th with an average of 20.32 dpg. Chattanooga leads with a 23.22 dpg.~ Kills: UNLV ranks 18th with an average of 16.66 kpg. Nebraska leads with a 18.03 kpg.
Nationally Speaking - Individual: The UNLV volleyball team has three players rank nationally in individual per-game statistics in assists, digs and kills. The statistics are compiled through Sept. 23.
~ Assists: Melody Nua ranks 11th with an average of 13.26 apg.~ Digs: Jada Walker ranks 11th with an average of 6.04 dpg.~ Kills: Maria Aladjova ranks 38th with an average of 4.66 kpg.
