Nov. 11, 2010
Final Stats
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV Rebels (8-19, 3-10 MWC) suffered a hard-fought, 3-2 loss Thursday night to the BYU Cougars (10-15, 5-6 MWC) in Mountain West Conference volleyball action from the Cox Pavilion. UNLV rallied from a 2-1 deficit to send the match to a decisive fifth set, but witnessed the momentum swing to BYU's favor in the final frame. The Cougars claimed the match with set scores of 22-25, 25-22, 25-14, 24-26, 15-8.
UNLV was led offensively by Sara Nehf's 11th career double-double, as she combined a match-high 21 kills and 14 digs for the feat. Nehf attempted a career-high 62 swings in the match and also chipped in two blocks (one solo) and one assist.
Madeline Westman surpassed her career-highs in kills (10) and attempts (30) in the match and also had four blocks (two solo), two digs, one assist and one ace.
Kela Lau Hee's defense was instrumental in UNLV staying in the match with her tallying a career-best 26 digs with seven occurring in each of the first, second and fourth sets.
Amanda Alles led the Rebels in assists with 26 and also had seven digs, four kills, two assisted blocks and one ace.
Trailing by a 2-1 score, the home team came out swinging in the fourth and looked like they were going to run away with the set until BYU woke up. UNLV went ahead by five two different times before the Cougars rallied back. BYU chipped away at the deficit and pulled even at 22-22 and even had two set-point opportunities of its own, but UNLV quickly nullified both of them. After thwarting the final set point at the 24-23 mark, the Rebels scored three in-a-row to win 26-24.
After giving up the fifth set's first point, BYU scored four straight for a quick three-point lead at 4-1. UNLV tied the frame up at 6-6 before the Cougars would win nine of the final 11 points for the win.
The Rebels took a 1-0 lead after staving off a rally by the Cougars in the first set. The frame featured seven ties and four lead changes. UNLV cruised out to two different six-point leads before BYU rallied back for tie things up for the first time at the 14-14 juncture. The Rebels built a three-point cushion at 18-15, but watched as the Cougars rattled off four consecutive points to own a 19-18 lead. UNLV managed to turn the set in its favor at 21-20 only to see BYU flip it back around at 22-21. Trailing by one, the Rebels scored four straight points to win by a three-point margin, 25-22.
The second set was tightly played from the start with all six ties and four lead changes occurring within the first 20 points. After a 10-10 stalemate, BYU slowly built its lead the remainder of the stanza and never let UNLV come within two points.
The Cougars kept things moving in their favor with a 25-14 win in the third set. BYU staked itself to a quick 7-1 lead and never looked back.
BYU out-hit UNLV by a .235 to .167 margin and tallied three more kills (65-62) and nine less errors (23-32) in the match. The Cougars opened up with their lowest output (.100) in the first set before hitting their highest tally (.333) in the second. They hit between those two figures the remainder of the contest. UNLV, on the other hand, hit above .213 in three sets, but also registered two negative tallies, as well.
The Cougars got a double-double from Kiana Rogers, who had a match-high 55 assists and 10 digs. Christie Carpenter led a quintet of attackers in double-figures with a team-high 16 kills and also added eight digs. On the defensive side of the ball, Kendalyn Hartsock led her team in digs with 21.
UNLV returns to the Cox Pavilion for the final time on Saturday with a 1:00 pm contest against the Utah Utes. The affair has been billed as "Senior Day", as the program recognized its four seniors: Nehf, Lau Hee, Kelsey Keeler and Jeralynn Makaiwi.
