Nov. 26, 2008
LAS VEGAS -
Week Fourteen Release in PDF Format 
First Serve: The Rebels have one last home match to play this Saturday (5:30 pm) against the #14 Florida Gators to close out the 2008 regular season. This will be the UNLV's sixth encounter with a Top 25 squad, as they currently hold a 1-5 record against its nationally-ranked foes.
Florida comes to Las Vegas after playing in its final Southeastern Conference regular season match on Wednesday, Nov. 26 at South Carolina. The Gators head into this week with a 23-3 overall record and 17-2 in league play. With a win at South Carolina, UF will claim at least a share of its 18th consecutive SEC crown. The Gators began 2008 with a seven-match winning streak before dropping a three-set contest at Colorado State (Sept. 13). The loss propelled Florida to win 11 in-a-row before going 6-2 in its last eight bouts. In the all-time series, UF owns a 1-0 edge. The Gators defeated UNLV at the SunTrust Invitational in Gainesville, Fla., (Sept. 1) to begin the 2000 season.
Trio Earn All-Conference Honors: For the fourth consecutive year the UNLV volleyball program placed at least two members on the Mountain West's All-Conference Team,which was announced Tuesday and voted on by the league's nine head coaches. Melody Nua, who is a repeat selection from 2007, was joined by Camille Cunningham on the 17-member squad. Cursty Jackson rounded out the awards for the Rebels, as she was named the MWC's Freshman of the Year.
The Rebels, who finished in a fourth-place tie with TCU in final MWC standings, were led by Nua and Cunningham's senior leadership this season. Both players assaulted the UNLV record book in 2008 and will have their names etched in the all-time annals of the program.
Nua, a 5-7 senior from Long Beach, Calif., leads UNLV in assists with 1,028 and notched double-digits in all 29 matches thus far in 2008. She racked up 13 double-doubles combining her assist tallies with 13 double-figure dig matches. In all, she is second on the squad in digs with 251 and second in aces with 20. At the net, she has thrown down 80 kills and blocked 19 opponent attacks. For her career, she will leave UNLV as the all-time leader in assists, matches played and sets played.
Cunningham, a 5-8 senior from La Canada, Calif., stepped into the libero position in 2008. She topped all conference defenders in overall and conference digs-per-set statistics, while helping UNLV achieve top billing in both of those categories as a team. She sits first amongst the team with 527 digs, which currently is the third-most in a single-season at UNLV. She has registered at least 11 digs in 28 of the team's 29 matches, with a career-best 33 coming in a win over Arizona State on Aug. 29. She provides some offense, as well, as she leads the team in aces with 23 with a career-best four served up against South Carolina on Aug. 30. Overall, she is sits second in career digs, eighth in matches played and ninth in sets played and aces.
Jackson, a 6-2 middle blocker from Los Angeles, earned MWC Freshman of the Year accolades after tallying the MWC's highest freshman ranking in hitting efficiency in overall and conference matches (.264 and .236, respectively), kills-per-set in overall and conference matches (2.55 and 2.72, respectively), and points-per-set in overall and league play (3.06 and 3.24, respectively). She ranked in the top-20 in all the aforementioned categories overall.
She tallied double-figure kills in eight matches this season and also averages 0.81 blocks and 0.49 digs-per-set. She has pushed her career-high in kills to 18 in a contest vs. BYU on Nov. 6, while knocking down a .750 hitting efficiency vs. Georgia State on Sept. 20. She ranks second on the team in hitting with a .264 and third in kills with 204.
Jackson becomes UNLV's first MWC Freshman of the Year since Maria Aladjova took home honors in 2004.
Weekly Rewind vs. Air Force: The UNLV Rebels (16-13 overall, 9-7 Mountain West) celebrated "Senior Day" properly with a 3-0 sweep of the Air Force Falcons (5-24, 0-16) on Saturday afternoon at the Cox Pavilion. With the win, UNLV reached 16 victories each of the past three years and has amassed at least nine wins in conference play over the past four seasons. The Rebels won the match by set scores of 25-18, 25-15, 25-11.
Melody Nua, Camille Cunningham, Gerryn Moran and team manager Zach Thomas were recognized before the match for the four-years of service to the UNLV volleyball program.
The win over Air Force extended UNLV's winning streak in the series to 19 straight, while the Rebels improved to 24-2 overall in the 26 meetings.
The Rebel offense produced its second-highest hitting efficiency of the season (.366), while the defense notched its best showing of the year by holding Air Force to a lowly .035. UNLV managed two .400 sets (.462 in first, .421 in third) and a .231 in the second. Air Force, on the other hand, hit no higher than .152 (first) before owning two showings below .036. UNLV notched 11 more kills (35-to-24) and committed 12 less errors (9-to-21) in the match. The nine errors by the Rebel offense was the lowest tally in a three-set match by them this season.
Sara Nehf led the offense for the home squad with a match-high 15 kills, while hitting at a career-best .591. Nehf committed only two errors in 22 attempts.
Nua dished out a match-high 18 assists for the Rebels. Nua has now reached double-digits in every match in 2008, while going 118-for-119 in her career.
Amanda Alles notched her second-career 10+ assist match with her 10 helpers.
The Rebel defense shared the wealth in stopping Air Force attacks with Camille Cunningham leading the way with her eight digs. Nehf and Nua followed closely behind with their seven and six digs, respectively.
Cursty Jackson contributed a match-high five assisted blocks, while pitching in seven kills and a .400 hitting efficiency.
A Nua Record For The Books With her 12th assist coming at the 2-2 mark of the second set vs. Nevada, Reno on Sept. 28, Melody Nua became the all-time assist leader in UNLV volleyball history surpassing Nicki King's (2001-04) 4,261. Nua has dished out 4,777 through three-plus years of play. She already owns the 2nd, 3rd, 8th and 9th-best single-season tallies in school history.
Nua knocked out two other career records that were only a year old. She surpassed former teammate Jada Walker's (2004-07) all-time matches (116) and sets played (431) records during the Wyoming and Colorado State road trip two weeks ago. Nua now owns the matches mark with 119 and sets with 439.
She has dished out 1,028 total helpers and notched double-digits in all 29 of UNLV's matches this season and has achieved the feat in 118 of 119 career matches. Her best match, thus far, in 2008 came at home vs. San Diego State (Oct. 3), where she dished out 54 helpers.
She has amassed the second-most digs on the team with 251. She has hit the double-digit mark in digs on 13 occasions.
She has 13 double-doubles on the year with help from double-figure assist and dig totals. In all, she has 40 double-doubles for her career.
Although she is known for setting up her attackers, she is known to contribute one every now and then. She has 80 kills of her own this year with a season-high six occurring twice: Arizona State (Aug. 29) and Oregon (Sept. 12).
Going Green Erin Greenwood has made her presence felt in the middle with her ability to attack and put back attacks. In UNLV's all-time record book, Greenwood ranks fourth in hitting efficiency with a .2?? average and in total blocks (269), assisted blocks (227) and fifth in solo blocks (42).
At the net, she is first in blocks with 77 (17 solo, 60 assisted) with a season-high six coming against TCU on Oct. 25.
She is second on the team in kills (275) and kills-per-set (2.67). She is hitting at a .281 efficiency, which is the best amongst Rebels. She has amassed 10 or more kills in 14 matches. Nine of those double-digit kill contests have come in the past 13 matches.
In an 11-match span from San Diego State (Oct. 3) to Wyoming (Nov. 13), she racked up a team-best 137 kills and topped the squad with her 3.42 kills-per-set average in the previous 11 contests. She hit at a .308 clip, which included a .579 outing at BYU (Oct. 11). She nearly surpassed that effort with one a week later vs. Wyoming (Oct. 18), when she hit .567.
She tied her career-high in kills with 22 vs. BYU (Nov. 6). Coincidentally, she initially set her personal-best against the Cougars on Nov. 23, 2007, in the MWC Tournament semifinal match.
Prior to her latest achievement vs. BYU, her season-best to-date was against South Carolina (Aug. 30) in ASU's Sheraton Classic. Against the Gamecocks, she knocked down 20 kills with only one error in 42 swings and hit .452.
Another Cunningham Camille Cunningham shares the same last name (but no relation) with a former UNLV all-time great...Randall Cunningham. Randall was inducted into the UNLV Hall of Fame in 1996 after his accomplishments on the gridiron, while Camille has spent her time on the court and has slowly worked her way into the record books.
After spending the past three years as a defensive specialist, she has taken over the libero jersey for the 2008 season. She leads the Rebels with her 527 digs and sits second all-time in that category with 1,257 defensive stops. The 527 digs ranks as the third-most in a single-season at UNLV, while her 2007 tally of 354 is sixth.
She earned all-tournament honors in the UNLV Invitational (Sept. 5-6) and the Denver Invitational (Sept. 19-20).
She has registered at least 11 digs in 28 of 29 matches this season with 11 contests of at least 20. She amassed a career-best 33 against Arizona State (Aug. 29).
Not only does she stop opponents' attacks, but she manages to produce offensively for UNLV, as well. She leads the team in aces with 23. She has seven matches in which she has at least two aces. She notched a career-best four aces against South Carolina (Aug. 30) and has two contests where she nailed down three.
Action Jackson: Before playing in UNLV's road trip through the state of Colorado (Sept. 18-20), Cursty Jackson had played in a total of four matches and eight sets. Since Sept. 18, Jackson has seen plenty of court time, as she has played in all 20 matches and 72 sets.
In the last 20 matches, she has tallied 194 kills which equates to 2.69 kills-per-set and a .255 hitting efficiency. She has amassed no less than five kills in all but one match (at Colorado State on Nov. 16), while maxing out at 19 vs. BYU (Nov. 6). In all, she has hit double-digit figures in eight of the 20 contests.
She racked up a .750 hitting efficiency against Georgia State (Sept. 20) to rank as her best outing to-date. She has seven matches in which she has hit above .300.
Not only has she been strong attacking, she has been just as effective as a blocker. In the past 20 matches, she is second on the team with 57 blocks (12 solo, 45 assisted).
Overall, she has thrown down 204 kills (2.55 kps) and is second on the team with a .264 hitting efficiency. At the net, she is second with 65 blocks (15 solo, 50 assisted).
Nehf Said: Sara Nehf has racked up 167 kills on the year for an average of 2.42. Nehf has seen action in 25 matches and 69 sets, but has been more of a factor lately.
In the past 13 matches, she is tied for the team-lead in kills-per-set (3.07), while coming in second in kills (138). She has tallied eight or more kills in 11 of the 13 contests, while topping out at a career-best 17 at Wyoming this past Thursday. She had previously set a career-high of 15 vs. Utah (Nov. 8). She hit for a career-best .591 vs. Air Force this past weekend.
In the same 13-match time frame, she has produced defensively, as well. She has 73 digs, while picking up 10 vs. Wyoming (10-18), 12 vs. BYU (11-6) and 10 at Wyoming (11-13-08) to combine with her kill totals for her three double-doubles in 2008 and four total for her career.
On The Outside: Jessica Walters played well enough the first month of 2008 to earn all-tournament honors four times over. At the ASU Sheraton Classic (Aug. 29-30), Walters smashed 60 kills (4.62 kps) and hit .278. In the UNLV Invitational (Sept. 5-6), she had 29 kills (2.42 kps). In the Oregon Classic (Sept. 12-13), she collected 42 kills (4.20 kps) and hit .293. At the Denver Invitational (Sept. 19-20), she had 31 kills (3.10 kps) and hit .244.
She leads the team in kills (284) and kills-per-set (3.02). She has hit for double-digits in 15 of UNLV's 29 matches. She has eight matches of 15 or more kills and one where she tallied more than 20 (Arizona State - Aug. 29).
Against ASU (Aug. 29), she collected a career-best 27 kills, while hitting at a .404 clip.
She set a career-best in hitting efficiency when she smashed a .520 at BYU (Oct. 11). She knocked down 14 kills with only one errors in 25 swings.
It's Just G: Up until three matches ago Gerryn Moran was playing more of a defensive role, but has since seen more face time at the net.
Currently, Moran sits third on the team in digs with 239. She had reached the 16-dig mark on three occasions before pushing her career-high to 20 after the match at Wyoming (Nov. 13). In all, she has amassed 10 or more digs in nine matches this year.
Prior to Nov. 8 (Utah), she had only connected on eight kills, but in the past four contests she has managed to throw down 24. In the past three she hit seven twice and six once.
Before racking up the kills, she had helped offensively by collecting 15 two-assist matches and serving up 17 aces.
Sam I Am: Through 29 matches of play Samantha Richard has three double-doubles (Dayton, Cal State Fullerton and San Diego State). Richard picked up her first two double-doubles in the season's first five matches with 10 kills and 12 digs for her first as a Rebel vs. Dayton (Aug. 29) and then 12 kills and 17 digs vs. Fullerton (Sept. 6). It took her 12 matches to notch her third double-double with a 14 kill-10 dig effort vs. San Diego State (Oct. 3).
As her double-double efforts show, she is a balanced offensive/defensive player. She sits fifth on the team in kills with 124 and comes in fourth in digs with 213.
She has notched double-digits in kills on four occasions, with New Mexico (Sept. 27) and San Diego State (Oct. 3) topping the list with 14 kills in each. In the New Mexico match, she hit a season-best .444 with only two errors in 27 swings.
She has 10 matches with 10 or more digs with a season-high 17 coming against Cal State Fullerton on Sept. 6.
She is fourth on the squad in aces with 14.
Court, Class Success: A pair of UNLV volleyball student-athletes was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Eight Team on Nov. 6. Jessica Walters was tabbed to the first team for the second straight year, while Erin Greenwood was selected to the third team. Walters is now eligible for CoSIDA Academic All-America status by virtue of being placed on the district's first team.
Walters and Greenwood are no strangers to receiving academic recognition, as they each have been named to the Mountain West Conference's Academic All-Conference Teams the past two years. Each has been honored on the MWC's Scholar-Athlete Teams, as Greenwood has three selections to Walters' two.
The duo has also been named the past two recipients of the Top Sports Award the past two academic years (Walters 2007-08, Greenwood 2006-07). Walters went one step further and took home UNLV's Most Outstanding Female Athlete honors in April 2008.
