Sept. 2, 2011
Final Stats
LUBBOCK, Texas (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV Rebels (1-3) won its first match of the 2011 season in sweeping fashion (25-17, 25-13, 25-16) over the Central Arkansas Sugar Bears (1-3) Friday morning at the Texas Tech Invitational in Lubbock, Texas. UNLV was led by Madeline Westman on both sides of the net and her totals of 12 kills, five assisted blocks and three digs. Stephanie Thelen and Taylor Richard both played a strong role in the Rebel victory. The trio led all players in their respective categories.
Westman set a career-high in hitting efficiency with her .588 performance. Her 12 kills tied her personal-best set last season against Air Force (Nov. 26). In all, she attempted 17 swings and only tallied two errors.
UNLV's offense came out swinging against UCA and amassed a season-high .281 hitting efficiency compared to the Sugar Bear's .065 effort. The Rebels hit no worse than .233 in any set and topped out at .357 in the second frame. The attackers threw down at least 10 kills in each stanza and committed no more than four errors in any set. Overall, UNLV accumulated seven more kills (36-to-29) and 11 less errors (11-to-22), while attempting 18 fewer attacks (89-to-107). UCA's attack never got on track throughout the match, as the team hit between .000 (third) and .182 (first) and was primarily hampered by UNLV's frontline of blockers and their 22 assisted blocks.
The match featured 12 ties and only three lead changes. Once UNLV hit the 10-point mark in each set, the team kept the pedal down and held on for a win in each frame.
Elisa Brochado, Makenize Moea'i and Daryn Glenn also performed well on both sides of the ball for UNLV. Brochado hit a season-best .389 on the day with nine kills and chipped in five digs and one assisted block. Moea'i had seven kills, four digs and four assisted blocks. Glenn had six kills, seven digs, three assisted blocks and two aces.
Thelen dished out a career-best 33 assists and contributed five assisted blocks and four digs.
Richard dug out 16 UCA attacks and added one ace.
The Sugar Bears were led by an 11-kill, five-dig performance by Jessica Hays. Marissa Collins had a team-high 25 assists and seven digs. Cristin Curl led her squad in digs with 10.
UNLV is back in action Friday afternoon with a 4:00 pm CT (2:00 pm PT) contest against Morehead State at the Invitational.
