Aug. 29, 2008
LAS VEGAS - After dropping its first match of the 2008 season earlier this morning, the UNLV Rebels recovered to even its overall record at 1-1 with a 3-1 victory over the Arizona State Sun Devils on Friday evening. The Rebels now own a three-match winning streak over the Sun Devils and upped the series history to 4-2 in their favor. The teams split the first two sets of the match, but the Rebels came out swinging to claim the third and fourth sets. UNLV took the match with set scores of 25-19, 20-25, 25-19, 25-23.
UNLV's offense was propelled by a career-high 27 kills posted by Jessica Walters, who also hit .404 in the match with only six errors in 52 attempts.
Erin Greenwood joined Walters in double-digit kill figures with 13 tallies. In all, Walters and Greenwood combined for 40 of UNLV's 61 kills. Greenwood was instrumental at the net as she picked up three points with three solo blocks.
Melody Nua dished out a match-high 51 assists, while falling two digs shy of a double-double with eight digs. Nua hit .444 on the night, as she threw down six kills on nine attempts with only two errors.
Besides Walters' career night, Camille Cunningham one-upped herself with a career-high 33 digs. Cunningham had notched a new high in the Rebels' morning match against Dayton with 23 digs. Besides her defensive effort, she contributed offensively with three assists and two aces.
ASU received double-doubles from two of its student-athletes, as Marina Mercer and Sarah Reaves achieved the feat. Mercer used a combination of 44 assists and 14 digs for her double-double, while Reaves went with 15 kills and 13 digs.
Margie Giordano led all Sun Devils with 17 kills. Giordano and Reaves were joined in double-digit kills with Paige Mittelstaedt's 10.
Sarah Johnson helped ASU defensively, as she dug out 14 Rebel attacks.
For the match, UNLV hit .258 and no worse than .191 in any set. Arizona State, on the other hand, hit .194 and only once above .171. The Rebels best set was their first, as they hit .355. ASU came out strong in the second with .342, but stayed muddled under .200 the remainder of the match. All four sets wound up going to the team with the higher efficiency in said sets.
The Rebels will face the South Carolina Gamecocks (1-1) in the final day of the ASU Sheraton Classic on Saturday at 11:00 am. All four teams in the classic sit with identical 1-1 records.
*Note: Tonight's win over Arizona State was UNLV head coach Allison Keeley's 75th as a Rebel.
