Sept. 10, 2008
LAS VEGAS -
Week Three Release in PDF Format 
First Serve: After spending a weekend at home playing in their own UNLV Invitational, the Rebels head to the Pacific Northwest for the Oregon Classic in Eugene, Ore. UNLV will face #12 Oregon, Baylor and Eastern Washington. Thus far, UNLV sits at 2-4 on the season and 1-2 away from Las Vegas. This will be the second road trip for the Rebels and the first of two consecutive weekends away from the Cox Pavilion.
Baylor and Eastern Washington will kick off the Oregon Classic at 4:30 on Friday with UNLV taking on #12 Oregon at 7:00 pm. The Rebels and Baylor open up Saturday's play with a 10:00 am match. Oregon and Eastern Washington follow at 12:30 pm before a break in the action. UNLV will play its final match of the tournament at 4:30 pm against Eastern Washington. Oregon and Baylor close down the Classic at 7:00 pm.
Oregon enters its own tournament ranked 12th in the latest CBS College Sports Network/AVCA Top 25 Poll. After going 22-11 in 2007 and playing in the Regional Semifinals of the NCAA Tournament, the Ducks sit 5-1 this season. The team is riding a three-match winning streak after taking the Jayhawk Invitational title in Lawrence, Kan., this past weekend. The Ducks won all three matches (Central Florida, Kansas and Utah Valley) by 3-0 sweeps. In the all-time series, the teams are knotted at one win apiece. The last meeting went to the Ducks by a 3-1 score on Sept. 14, in Chicago, Ill., at the Blue Demon Invitational.
Baylor enters the Oregon Classic with a perfect 7-0 record. This year's Bears' team already has half as many victories as what it managed to win in 2007 (last year's squad went 14-17). Last weekend, BU went 4-0 in its own Baylor Classic. The team was nearly perfect on the court, as they swept its first three matches (Weber State, San Diego State and UT-San Antonio) before winning by a 3-1 margin in its final contest (Rice). In the all-time series, the Bears own a 2-0 record. Baylor swept both meetings spread over the 2000 and 2001 seasons.
Eastern Washington enters the Oregon Classic with a 3-3 record. The Eagles went 2-1 last weekend in the Idaho Volleyball Classic with 3-1 victories over Notre Dame and Washington State and a 3-0 loss to Idaho. EWU is coming off a 15-15 season in 2007. In the all-time series, EWU owns a 1-0 record with a 3-1 victory on Sept. 5, 1997, in Las Vegas at the Official All-Star Cafe/UNLV Volleyball Classic.
On The Sidelines: Following the conclusion of the Oregon Classic the Rebels will remain on the road for four more matches. UNLV will head to the Centennial State for four matches between Sept. 18-20. The Rebels begin play with its Mountain West Conference road opener at Air Force on Sept. 18 before playing a trio of contests in the University of Denver Invitational (Sept. 19-20). At the Invitational, UNLV will square off with Denver, SMU and Georgia State.
Weekly Rewind: The Rebels hosted its only home tournament this past weekend (Sept. 5-6) and went 1-2 in its UNLV Invitational. On Friday night, the Rebels squared off with then-10th ranked Wisconsin and went the distance with the Badgers, but ultimately fell by a 3-2 margin. On Saturday, UNLV rebounded with a 3-1 win over Cal State Fullerton before succumbing to the tournament champion, Miami (Ohio) by a 3-0 score.
vs. #10 Wisconsin: The Badgers and Rebels traded set victories through the first four frames. In the fifth set, UW jumped out to a five-point lead at the 9-4 juncture, but watched UNLV rally with nine of the next 13 points to even the score at 13-13. The Rebels put themselves in position to win the match with two match points, but the Badgers managed to fight them off. UW wound up scoring the final three points of the set for a 17-15 win. Both teams came out firing in the fifth, as Wisconsin hit .429 with 15 kills to UNLV's .455 and 11 kills. Overall, Wisconsin out-hit UNLV .257 to .215.
UNLV was led by a double-double by Melody Nua (44 assists, 11 digs). Erin Greenwood and Kelsey Keeler were the top attackers, as they collected 13 kills apiece. Six of Keeler's kills came in UNLV's fifth-set rally. Camille Cunningham notched a match-high 27 digs.
vs. Cal State Fullerton: The Titans struck for a quick 1-0 lead, but witnessed UNLV rebound and win the final three sets. The win snapped a two-match losing streak. Fullerton used a .429 hitting efficiency in the first to jump out 1-0, but never hit better than .130 the remainder of the match. UNLV hit .224 overall with its best tally coming in the third (.378).
Nua and Samantha Richard collected double-doubles for UNLV. Nua combined 34 assists with 10 digs for the feat, while Richard collected 12 kills and 17 digs. Jessica Walters led the Rebels in kills with 13. Cunningham led the team in digs with 18. At the net, Samantha Noland had a team-best six blocks (one solo) and pitched in eight kills.
vs. Miami (Ohio): In the finale of the UNLV Invitational, Miami came out firing and never looked back with a three-set victory. Earlier in the day, Miami knocked off Wisconsin in four and made easy work of the Rebels, as well. Miami hit .380 for the match with no set worse than .286. The RedHawks opened up with a .421 in the first and upped their tally to .464 in the second. UNLV, on the other hand, hit .242 in the first, but dropped into the .100s for the remaining sets.
Noland led the team in kills with nine. Nua dished out a team-leading 20 assists. Cunningham had 14 digs.
UNLV Invitational Honorees: Jessica Walters and Camille Cunningham earned all-tournament team status with their efforts in the UNLV Invitational last weekend. This was the second time that Walters has been named to an all-tourney team this season, as she was placed on the ASU Sheraton Classic squad on Aug. 30.
Walters tied for the most kills by a Rebel during the UNLV Invitational with 29. Defensively, she dug out 15 opponent attacks.
Cunningham notched 59 digs for a 4.92 per-set average. She assisted on 11 kills, as well.
A Pleasant Melody: Melody Nua picked up double-digits in assists in all six of UNLV's matches this season. Nua has now achieved 10 or more assists in 95 of 96 career matches. To add to her 2008 achievements, she has notched four double-doubles to give her 31 as a Rebel.
Thus far, her best match for assists came against Arizona State (Aug. 29) when she dished out 51.
Besides helping her hitters rack up kills, she is known to contribute one every now and then. She has 26 kills of her own this year with a season-high six at Arizona State.
By combining the 242 assists she has collected in 2008 with the 3,749 she amassed during her first three seasons as a Rebel, she has 3,991. She needs 271 more assists to take the Rebel record away from Nicki King (2001-04), who has the record with 4,261 helpers. She already owns the 2nd, 3rd and 8th-best single-season assist tallies in school history.
Going Green: Erin Greenwood made her presence known at the end of the 2007 season as a nice combination in the middle with Lauren Miramontes (2003-07). Greenwood is now the main threat in the with Miramontes' departure due to graduation.
Through two weekends of play, she is second on the team in kills (72) and kills-per-set (2.88). She is hitting at a .316 efficiency, which is the best amongst Rebels with 30 or more kills.
At the net, she is second in blocks with 12 (six solo, six assisted). She trails Samantha Noland by one. In the UNLV career record book, she has placed herself in all three of the blocking categories: 8th in solo, 8th in assisted and 10th in total.
Thus far, her best match of the season came against South Carolina (Aug. 30) in ASU's Sheraton Classic. Against the Gamecocks, she knocked down 20 kills and hit .452. The 20 kills were two shy of tying her career-best 22 racked up against BYU on Nov. 23, 2007.
On The Outside: Jessica Walters has played well enough the first two weekends of 2008 to earn all-tournament honors twice. At the ASU Sheraton Classic (Aug. 29-30), Walters collected 60 kills (4.62 kps) and hit .278. In last weekend's UNLV Invitational, she had 29 kills (2.42 kps).
Her best match of the season came against Arizona State (Aug. 29), when she collected a career-best 27 kills. She hit .404 in the match, as well.
She leads the team in kills (89) and kills-per-set (3.56). Defensively, she is averaging nearly a dig-per-set at (0.92).
Sam I Am: After growing up in Las Vegas, Samantha Richard began her collegiate volleyball career in Salt Lake City at Salt Lake Community College. After a stellar career at SLCC, Richard chose to come back to Las Vegas and close out the final two years of her eligibility at UNLV.
Through two weeks of play she has two double-doubles (South Carolina and Cal State Fullerton). She combined 10 kills with 12 digs for her first as a Rebel against USC (Aug. 30) and then meshed 12 kills and 17 digs for the feat against CSF (Sept. 6).
She currently sits fourth amongst attackers with 44 kills. She is averaging 1.83 kills-per-set. Defensively, she is second on the squad in digs (72) and digs-per-set (3.00).
Just Another Cunningham In A Rebel Uni: 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 (3rd in career digs with 869).
After spending the past three years as a defensive specialist, she has taken over the libero jersey for the 2008 season. Thus far, she has been doing well, as she recorded 139 digs for a per-game average of 5.56 through two weeks of play.
She earned all-tournament honors this past weekend in the UNLV Invitational. She dug out 59 opponent attacks for a 4.92 digs-per-set average.
She has amassed more than 20 digs on four occasions with a career-best 33 coming 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 eight. Half of her ace total came against South Carolina (Aug. 30), which was a career-high. She needs seven more to qualify for the top 10 in the career category.
Hi, My Name Is Kelsey: Kelsey Keeler had a sort of coming out party this weekend in the UNLV Invitational. After playing sparingly as a freshman last year, Keeler has played in all six matches and in 19 sets. She has collected 38 kills for a 2.00 kills-per-set average.
After registering only nine kills at ASU's Sheraton Classic, she had a monster weekend at the UNLV Invitational. She tied Jessica Walters for the most kills (29) and best kills-per-set mark (2.42).
She had her best match as a Rebel against then-10th ranked Wisconsin on Sept. 5. She knocked down a career-best 13 kills. She got stronger as the match progressed, as she threw down six kills in the fifth and final set. She followed that double-digit kill performance with a second against Cal State Fullerton (Sept. 6) when she picked up 10 more.
Noli At The Net: This season, Samantha Noland will be writing a weekly blog on www.UNLVRebels.com titled "Noli at the Net". Noland will talk about the most recent action and what is upcoming.
Besides her journalistic endeavor, Noland has been producing on the court, as well. She is third on the team in kills with 46. She holds the second-best hitting efficiency (.267) amongst Rebels with 30 or more kills.
Her best outing, thus far in the young season, came against South Carolina (Aug. 30). She notched a career-high 14 kills, while hitting .483.
