Aug. 28, 2008
LAS VEGAS -
Week One Release in PDF Format 
First Serve: After closing out the 2007 season in Los Angeles against Long Beach State on Nov. 30, the UNLV Volleyball program has had nearly nine months off in between matches. After two weeks of preseason practices the Rebels will serve up the 2008 season on the road at the ASU Sheraton Classic in Tempe, Ariz., Aug. 29-30. UNLV will play a familiar foe in Arizona State, but Dayton and South Carolina are both first-time opponents for the Rebels.
UNLV will serve up the season Friday (10:00 am) against Dayton, who closed out the 2007 season 33-2 and ranked 24th in the CSTV/AVCA Final Top 25 Poll. The Flyers won their fourth consecutive Atlantic 10 regular season championship last year with a 12-1 league mark and are projected to finish second in the A-10 West Division.
The Rebels and host Sun Devils will play the final match Friday evening (7:00 pm). The teams are familiar with each other, as they have played each other five times with UNLV holding a 3-2 edge. Two of the five meetings have come in the past three seasons with UNLV taking both matches by 3-0 sweeps (2005 and 2007). Not only will some of the Sun Devil players look familiar, but their newly appointed head coach will be no stranger to the Rebels. Jason Watson, formerly of BYU, enters his first season at the helm of the ASU volleyball program. ASU went 15-16 in 2007 and finished seventh in the Pac-10 with a 7-11 record. In the Pac-10's preseason poll, ASU was picked to finish 8th.
South Carolina will be the final opponent for UNLV in Tempe. The Gamecocks went 14-15 last year and finished 4th in the Southeastern Conference's Eastern Division with a 7-13 mark. The team was tabbed to finish fifth in the SEC Eastern Division via the league's preseason poll.
On The Sidelines: Following the season-opening road trip to the ASU Sheraton Classic, the Rebels will return to Las Vegas to host its own tournament on Sept. 5-6. UNLV will welcome #13 Wisconsin, Cal State Fullerton and Miami (Ohio) to the two-day event in the Cox Pavilion. The tournament will feature each team playing one match on Friday, Sept. 5, and two apiece on Saturday, Sept. 6.
2008 Outlook: The UNLV Volleyball team is coming off arguably the most successful season in the program's history and looks to keep things moving in the right direction this fall. This year's roster returns 10 letterwinners, which includes four starters from the 2007 NCAA Tournament and Mountain West Conference Championship squad.
Since taking the helm of the UNLV program in 2004, Allison Keeley has had the Rebels moving in the right direction. The Rebels hit the 15-win barrier in 2004 and 2005 and post-ed the team's first-ever back-to-back 20+ win seasons in 2006 and 2007. Last year's 24-6 overall mark will be hard-pressed to duplicate, but this year's squad hopes to try.
In all, the 2008 Rebels will be comprised of 18 student-athletes, six of which are fresh faces to the program. The team will be young, as it only has seven upperclassmen, one of which is a junior-college transfer. The team's leadership will come from the six returning veterans: Melody Nua, Camille Cunningham, Gerryn Moran, Jessica Walters, Erin Greenwood and Samantha Noland. Nua, Cunningham, Walters and Greenwood played in all 30 of 2007's matches, while Moran and Noland played in over 20 apiece. The remainder of the squad will feature four sophomores and seven freshmen.
Statistically, the team will be strong in the assist department with Nua's return. This year's squad only lost 8% of the assist totals from 2007. Besides assists, the 2008 version returns nearly 50% of its kill and dig figures from last season.
Returning Rebels - Seniors: The Rebels have three seniors on the 2008 squad and they will be looked upon for their on-court presence, as well as, guiding the younger members of the team.
Nua, a setter, was named to the Mountain West's All-Conference and All-Tournament Teams after playing in all 30 matches last season. She sits second in UNLV's career record book in assists with 3,749 and owns three of the best single-season assist tallies in the program's history. She sits only 512 helpers away from taking over the top spot from Nicki King (2001-04). Last season, she ranked 19th nationally in the NCAA's assists-per-game statistics, as she averaged 13.15, while the team ranked 12th overall with a 15.53 average. In all, she dished out 1,433 assists, which ranks as the second-most in a single-season at UNLV. In her career, she has notched double-digit assist figures in 89 of 90 career matches, which has helped her amass 27 double-doubles.
Cunningham, a defensive specialist, has played the back row for the Rebels for three years now. She has dug out 730 attacks in her career as a Rebel, which places her seventh in UNLV's record book. In 2007, she helped UNLV to the 10th-best digs-per-game ranking in the NCAA's statistics with an average of 19.76 after appearing in all 30 contests. Her 354 digs in 2007 were the seventh-most tallied in a single-season by a Rebel. She can also help the team offensively from the service line, as she threw down a team-best 36 aces in 2007.
Moran, an outside hitter, will be looked upon to provide some offense at the net. In 2007, she saw action in 22 matches and knocked down 49 kills. Last season, she registered nine kills on three occasions, with her best coming against BYU (Sept. 13), as she was perfect in nine attempts. She picked up 63 digs last year with a season-high 13 coming against Virginia (Aug. 25).
Returning Rebels - Juniors: The Rebels have four juniors on the 2008 squad. Walters, Greenwood and Noland have been with the team since their freshman seasons, while Samantha Richard enters after a two-year stint at Salt Lake Community College.
Walters, an outside hitter, closed out 2007 with the third-most kills (251) on the squad in a total of 30 matches. She threw down 10 or more kills 11 times. She tallied 155 digs with four matches of 10 or more. She notched three double-doubles last season by combining her kills and digs. At the net, she stuffed a total of 41 attacks (six solo).
Greenwood returns as the main threat in the middle for the Rebels after playing in 30 matches last season. Over the past two seasons she sat either first or second in the three blocking categories. In 2007, she led the squad in assisted and total blocks. Last season, she was second in solo, assisted and total blocks. Offensively, she closed out 2007 with fourth-most kills on the squad with 227. She registered nine matches with 10 or more kills, including a season-high 22 vs. BYU (Nov. 23).
Noland saw action in 23 matches last season and will be looked upon to play the middle or outside this year. She tallied 71 kills, 22 digs and 37 blocks last season.
Richard will be looked to play as a libero, but may see some time at the net as an outside hitter. She helped SLCC to a 44-2 record in 2007 with a third-place finish in the NJCAA Tournament. Last season was her most productive, as she had 365 kills, 52 assists, 63 aces, 363 digs and 34 total blocks.
Returning Rebels - Sophomores: The Rebels have four sophomores on the 2008 squad with Sara Nehf, Kelsey Keeler, Jeralynn Makaiwi and Kela Lau Hee rounding out the returners.
Nehf, an outside hitter, saw action in 18 matches and contributed 54 kills, 31 digs and 13 total blocks.
Keeler, a middle blocker and outside hitter, played in nine matches. She knocked down 16 kills, four total blocks and three digs.
Makaiwi, a defensive specialist, played the back row in 13 matches last season. She had 10 digs and two aces.
Lau Hee, a defensive specialist, appeared in 10 matches in 2007. She had nine digs and three aces.
New Rebels: The volleyball program will have seven freshmen joining the team in 2008, two of which were redshirts last year. Joining the mix will be three outside hitters, two setters, one libero and one middle blocker.
The outside hitters are Monika Karney (Olympia, Wash.), Leah Maurer (Mission, Kan.) and Saulie-Ann Wong (Hanapepe, Hawaii).
The setters are Amanda Alles (Flemington, N.J.) and Jessica Mojica (Las Vegas).
The libero is Tabitha Mabrey (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho), who sat out last season as a redshirt.
Rounding out the newcomers is middle blocker Cursty Jackson (Los Angeles).
