Oct. 1, 2011
Final Stats
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV Rebels (8-8 overall, 1-2 Mountain West) suffered a tough, 3-2 loss to the Wyoming Cowgirls (11-7, 2-2) Saturday afternoon in Mountain West volleyball action in the Cox Pavilion. UNLV rallied to claim a 2-1 lead in the match, but watched Wyoming fight back to even the contest at 2-all before running away with the fifth and final frame. The Cowgirls won the match with set scores of 25-17, 19-25, 23-25, 25-21, 15-5. Today's outing was the eighth five-set match for UNLV and evened its overall record to 4-4 in marathon matches.
Wyoming out-hit UNLV .213 to .118 in the match and owned three hitting efficiencies of .256 or better in three of its sets. Coincidentally, those three sets were the trio the Cowgirls needed for the win. The visitors threw down three more kills (58-55) and committed 10 less errors (23-33) on 22 fewer swings (164-186). UNLV had four of its sets stay within a range of .103 and .182. Unfortunately, the Rebels came out stagnant in the fifth with a -.043 effort in the final stanza.
"Overall, we just didn't take care of business. They flat out, outplayed us. They had a lot more energy on the court then we did. Right now, we have way too many errors. Our hitting errors are killing us. The lack of communication today was a real negative."
In all, the match featured 19 lead changes and six ties. The third and fourth frames drew the most back and forth action with four ties and two lead changes in the former to 11 and four, respectively, in the latter.
Stephanie Thelen led the Rebels with her sixth double-double of the year, as she combined a match-high 37 assists with a team-high 15 assists. Thelen also had a career/season-high nine kills on .409 hitting and chipped in two aces and one block.
Makenzie Moea'i was the top attacker for UNLV with a team-high 12 kills, besides adding six digs, one assist and one block on the day.
Defensively, the Rebels had five players' notch double digits in digs with three vying for the team lead with 15 apiece. Joining Thelen with 15 were Layne Wilson (career/season high) and Allison Davies.
Candice Thomas played well at the net with a team-high six blocks (one solo) and eight kills.
Wyoming had a quartet of players tally double-doubles in the match. Jodi Purdy (14 kills, 10 digs) and Tamara Kitic (13 kills, 12 digs) achieved the feat with a combination of kills and digs, while Rachel Keyes (26 assists, 18 digs) and Whitney Smith (20 assists, 12 digs) went the assists-digs route.
The Cowgirls matched UNLV's double-digit output defensively by having five of their own players rack up 10 or more digs. Besides the four from the double-double category, Becky Stewart also had 13 of her own.
UNLV hits the road for the first time in conference play with a Southwestern swing through the country with stops in Albuquerque and Fort Worth. The Rebels serve it up against New Mexico Thursday night (7:00 pm MT/5:00 pm PT) prior to Saturday's match at TCU (1:00 pm CT/11:00 am PT).
