Sept. 16, 2008
LAS VEGAS -
Week Four Release in PDF Format 
First Serve: The UNLV Rebels will stick to their "road warrior" ways, as the team will play four more contests on the road this week. Overall, the team will have played 10 of its first 13 contests away from the Cox Pavilion once they close out this week's matches. The team is racking up the frequent flyer miles going from Las Vegas to the Pacific Northwest and now to the Rocky Mountains. On tap for this week is a Mountain West Conference match at Air Force and three more in the University of Denver Invitational.
After playing 10 unfamiliar foes, UNLV will recognize some faces when they head to the U.S.A.F. Academy on Thursday, Sept. 18, for its conference opener against Air Force. The Falcons have spent the first three weekends of the 2008 season at home and sit 4-7 overall. Last weekend, the team went 3-1 in its own Air Force Invitational with wins over Kent State, Texas A&M Corpus Christi and North Carolina Central and one loss to Florida Atlantic. In the all-time series, UNLV owns a 22-2 advantage. The Rebels have won 17 straight dating back to 1999. Air Force's last win came on Oct. 23, 1999 (a 3-1 sweep in Las Vegas).
Denver sits 7-2 on the season, which includes a 2-1 mark in last week's DePaul Invitational held in Chicago, Ill. The Pioneers defeated Ball State to extend its winning streak to five matches, but then lost to UT-San Antonio to snap the run. DU rebounded with a victory over DePaul in the finale for a second-place finish. This will be the first meeting between UNLV and Denver.
SMU holds a 6-4 record on the year and has four matches on tap for this week. The Mustangs will entertain Tulsa on Tuesday evening before heading to the Mile High City for the University of Denver Invitational. SMU went 2-1 last weekend at the Ole Miss Invitational with wins over Georgia Tech and Eastern Illinois before losing its final match to the host Rebels. In the all-time series, UNLV holds a 2-1 advantage. The Mustangs won the last meeting 3-0 on Sept. 10, 2004, at a tournament hosted by Cal State Northridge. UNLV won both of the meetings in 1998 when both programs were members of the Western Athletic Conference.
Georgia State has yet to notch a victory in its 2008 campaign. The Panthers are 0-9 thus far this season. GSU has been swept in seven of its nine matches, including twice last weekend at the Courtyard by Marriott Chanticleer Invitational hosted by Coastal Carolina. In the all-time series, UNLV won the only meeting between the two schools. In the first year of the modern era of UNLV volleyball, the Rebels won 3-0 on Sept. 8 in Las Vegas.
On The Sidelines: Following the conclusion of the University of Denver Invitational, UNLV will return to Las Vegas for a four-match homestand, which includes three contests in a four-day time frame. The Rebels will begin the home stretch with two Mountain West Conference matches vs. TCU (Sept. 25 - 7:00 pm) and New Mexico (Sept. 27 - 1:00 pm). On Sept. 28, UNLV will welcome its in-state rival, Nevada-Reno, for a 5:00 pm contest.
Weekly Rewind: The Rebels went 2-1 last weekend (Sept. 12-13) in the Oregon Classic hosted by the Oregon Ducks in Eugene, Ore. UNLV dropped a 3-1 decision to Oregon on Friday, Sept. 12, but rebounded for back-to-back sweeps of Baylor and Eastern Washington on Saturday, Sept. 13. The wins improved UNLV's overall record to 4-5 and gave the team its first winning streak of 2008.
vs. #12 Oregon: The UNLV Rebels (2-5) lost in four sets to the 12th-ranked Oregon Ducks (7-1) Friday night in the Oregon Classic. The Ducks jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead, but watched the Rebels pick up a win in the third set before taking the match in the fourth. UO won the match by set scores of 25-22, 25-21, 22-25, 25-12.
The Rebels were out-hit .357-to-.229 and accumulated 17 less kills than the Ducks (48-to-65). Both teams hit well through the first three sets, but it was UO's fourth-set attack that decided the match. After hitting between .229 and .361 in the first three sets, UNLV hit a paltry -.071 in the fourth. The Ducks, on the other hand, hit between .244 and .368 in the first three before hitting a staggering .520 to take the win in the fourth.
UNLV's attack was led by Jessica Walters and her 15 kills. Erin Greenwood and Samantha Richard came close to double-digit kill figures with their nine and eight kills, respectively. Melody Nua topped the Rebels in assists by collecting 38 of the team's 42 helpers. Defensively, Camille Cunningham led the squad in digs with 16.
vs. Baylor: The UNLV Rebels (3-5) notched their first sweep of the 2008 campaign Saturday in the Oregon Classic with a 3-0 win over the Baylor Bears (8-1). The victory snapped a two-match losing streak the Rebels rode into the contest and halted Baylor's best start in school history at eight consecutive victories. The Rebels took the match with set scores of 25-17, 25-22, 29-27.
Both teams did not have their "A" games when it came to attacking. UNLV out-hit Baylor .165-to-.162. The Bears tallied one more kill in the match, but threw down three more errors.
Jessica Walters topped all hitters in the match with her 16 kills. Melody Nua led UNLV in assists with 31 of the team's 34 helpers. Camille Cunningham was the top defensive player for the Rebels with her 20 digs.
vs. Eastern Washington: The UNLV Rebels (4-5) notched its first winning streak of the season on Saturday by winning both of its matches on the final day of the Oregon Classic. After sweeping its first match of the year vs. Baylor in the morning, UNLV duplicated the feat Saturday night with a 3-0 win over Eastern Washington (3-6) to close out the Classic. The Rebels dropped the Eagles by set scores of 25-22, 25-17, 25-20.
The Rebels out-hit the Eagles by a whopping .258-to-.083 margin, but EWU managed to knock down two more kills than UNLV. The tale of the match was errors committed by the team's attackers. UNLV recorded only 11 errors with no more than four in any set, while EWU, on the other hand, managed 10 errors in two of its sets. The Eagles even hit a -.028 in the second frame.
UNLV's offense was led by Jessica Walter's match-high 11 kills. Walters swung at a .435 clip with only one error in 23 attempts. Cursty Jackson smashed a .500 hitting efficiency with six kills and no errors in 12 tries Melody Nua topped all Rebel setters with 24 assists. Nua tallied all but seven of UNLV's helpers. Camille Cunningham was tops in digs for the Rebels with 11 stops of the EWU attack.
All-Tournament Honorees: Thus far, UNLV has played in three tournaments and has had three student-athletes earn all-tournament recognition on five occasions. Jessica Walters has been honored in all three, while Camille Cunningham and Kelsey Keeler have received recognition once apiece.
ASU Sheraton Classic (Aug. 29-30): Jessica Walters
UNLV Invitational (Sept. 5-6): Jessica Walters and Camille Cunningham
Oregon Classic (Sept. 12-13): Jessica Walters and Kelsey Keeler
A Pleasant Melody: Melody Nua has dished out double-digits in assists in all nine of UNLV's matches this season. Nua has now achieved 10 or more assists in 98 of 99 career matches. To add to her 2008 achievements, she has notched four double-doubles (assist-dig combination) to give her 31 as a Rebel.
She is averaging 9.57 assists-per-set, which ranks as the fifth-best amongst Mountain West setters. So 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 35 kills of her own this year with a season-high six occurring twice: Arizona State (Aug. 29) and Oregon (Sept. 12).
In other categories, she ranks second in aces with nine and in third in digs with 73.
By combining the 345 assists she has collected in 2008 with the 3,749 she amassed during her first three seasons as a Rebel, she has 4,084. She needs 178 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 three weekends of play, she is second on the team in kills (89) and kills-per-set (2.54). She is hitting at a .288 efficiency, which is the best amongst Rebels with 30 or more kills.
At the net, she is first in blocks with 17 (six solo, 11 assisted). 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 three weekends of 2008 to earn all-tournament honors thrice. At the ASU Sheraton Classic (Aug. 29-30), Walters collected 60 kills (4.62 kps) and hit .278. In the UNLV Invitational (Sept. 5-6), she had 29 kills (2.42 kps). In last weekend's Oregon Classic (Sept. 12-13), she 42 kills (4.20 kps) and hit .293.
She leads the team in kills (131) and kills-per-set (3.74). She has hit for double-digits in eight of UNLV's nine matches with a five-kill performance against Miami (Sept. 6) keeping her from perfection. She has five matches of 15 or more kills and one where she reached 20.
Against Arizona State (Aug. 29), she collected a career-best 27 kills, while hitting at a .404 clip.
Her best hitting efficiency came against Eastern Washington (Sept. 13), when she posted a .435 with 11 kills and one error in 23 attempts.
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 three 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 third amongst attackers with 64 kills. She is averaging 1.88 kills-per-set. Defensively, she is second on the squad in digs (94) and digs-per-set (2.76).
Just 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 (3rd in career digs with 916, six behind Brittani Lumsden's (2004-07) 922).
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 186 digs for a per-game average of 5.31 through three weeks of play.
She earned all-tournament honors in the UNLV Invitational (Sept. 5-6). She dug out 59 opponent attacks for a 4.92 digs-per-set average.
She has registered at least 11 digs in all nine matches this season with five 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 16. She has six 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 nailed down three.
Hi, My Name Is Kelsey: Kelsey Keeler had a sort of coming out party in the UNLV Invitational (Sept. 5-6). After playing sparingly as a freshman last year, Keeler has played in all nine matches and in 27 sets. She has collected 51 kills for a 1.89 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 kept her play up in the Oregon Classic (Sept. 12-13), when she was named to her first career all-tournament team. She threw down 13 kills, four aces, 13 digs and eight blocks (one solo). Against Baylor (Sept. 13), she managed career-highs with four aces, eight digs and four blocks (all assisted).
She had her best match hitting wise, 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 fourth on the team in kills with 53. She holds the fourth-best hitting efficiency (.240) 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.
