Oct. 22, 2011
Final Stats
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV Rebels jumped out of conference play for their final non-conference tilt of the 2011 season with a 3-2, come-from-behind victory over the CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners. The win evened up UNLV's overall record at 11-11 and dropped CSUB to 6-15 on the year. The Rebels, who have played 10 five-set contests, won the match with set scores of 25-14, 18-25, 22-25, 25-18, 15-12.
The match held more significance than just a regular win for UNLV head coach Cindy Fredrick, as it was her 800th-career contest as a head coach dating back to her first year at Weber State University in1985. Twenty-two of those matches have taken place at UNLV, while the majority (470) occurred in Pullman, Wash., at Washington State University. She led Weber State, University of Iowa and Luther College in a combined 308 matches.
UNLV hit .182 overall in the match and had two sets with .300 or better hitting efficiencies. The Rebels opened up the bout with a .300 effort before adding a .321 in the fourth. They hit .261 in the fifth and final frame, but had two paltry efforts in the second and third. In all, UNLV threw down 51 kills and committed 25 errors in 143 swings.
"First, I'd like to say that the Rebels like to keep alive their five-match streaks much to the chagrin of the coaching staff," said Fredrick. "I was pleased with our first set, but we let our play side in the rest. We really showed guts in the fourth and fifth sets. A win is a win and we'll take it. It was really fun to win that 800th match."
CSUB, on the other hand, owned a .177 hitting efficiency with 58 kills, 29 errors and 164 attempts. The Roadrunners topped out in the second set with their .296 hitting, but never got close to that figure in the other four stanzas. They had three register below .184.
The affair featured 15 ties and five lead changes with eight of the ties taking place in the fifth frame. The fifth's final stalemate came at the 10-all junction. UNLV then rattled off five of the last seven points to take the win.
The fourth set, which only had two ties and two lead changes, featured some fireworks from CSUB's coach, when she was given a red card for disputing a call and throwing her clipboard.
The Rebel offense was led by double-figure kills from both Candice Thomas and Sekola Falemaka, who knocked down 17 and 10, respectively. Thomas' tallies were a season high and tied her career-high output. She also had three assisted blocks and one dig. Falemaka combined her 10 kills with 11 digs for her fourth double-double of the year and fifth of her career.
"I thought Candice played a great match. We did a good job of getting the ball to her and she came through."
Stephanie Thelen had a team-high 36 assists, but fell one dig shy of a double-double with nine digs. Thelen also had three kills, two assisted blocks and an ace.
Allison Davies topped all defensive players with 21 digs, and she added two assists and an ace.
"Makenzie (Moea'i) came through for us, while Allison had some good passing. Stephanie got the ball where we needed it to be."
The Roadrunners got a match-high 22 kills from Haleigh Haratyk, who also chipped in five digs, three aces, two blocks (one solo) and one assist. Haratyk was joined by Saelina Dunn in the double-digit kill category with 10 of her own.
Lisa Bartosch dished out a match-high 39 assists, besides her eight digs, three kills, one ace and one assisted block.
Lauren Holderman led the team digs with 16 and added six assists.
UNLV returns to action next week with a conference road swing through the Rocky Mountains. The Rebels open up in Laramie, Wyo., on Thursday, Oct. 27 at Wyoming (7:00 pm MT/6:00 pm PT). After that they head to Fort Collins, Colo., for an afternoon matinee against the Colorado State Rams on Saturday, Oct. 29 (1:00 pm MT/12:00 pm PT).
