Sept. 27, 2011
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) -
2011 Volleyball Notes - Week Six
FIRST SERVE: After opening up Mountain West action last Friday night with a win over San Diego State, the UNLV Rebels remain in Las Vegas for two more home matches this week. UNLV welcomes #21 Colorado State to town for a Thursday night contest (7:00 pm), while Wyoming comes in two days later for a Saturday matinee (1:00 pm).
ON THE SIDELINES: The UNLV Rebels hit the road for the first time in Mountain West play with its swing through the Southwest. UNLV will play in Albuquerque on Oct. 6 at New Mexico (7:00 pm MT/6:00 pm PT) before heading east to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex for a match on Oct. 8 against TCU (1:00 pm CT/11:00 am PT).
REBEL REWIND: The UNLV Rebels went 2-0 last week with sweeps against Nevada, Reno and San Diego State. UNLV began with a road trip to Reno and came away with its sixth-straight win against the Wolf Pack. The Rebels followed that up with their first win in six tries against the Aztecs. The SDSU affair was the Mountain West opener for both squads.
The Rebels' offense was led by Sekola Falemaka and her 21 kills and 3.50 kills per-set average. Falemaka either tied or owned the team-high in kills in both matches with eight against UNR and 13 vs. SDSU. She notched her third double-double of the year when she combined 13 digs with her 13 kills against SDSU. In all, she had 17 digs, one assist and one ace on the week.
Overall, UNLV had four players notch double figures in kills with Daryn Glenn, Candice Thomas and Madeline Westman joining Falemaka for the feat. Glenn threw down 16 kills, while Thomas and Westman had 13 and 11, respectively.
Stephanie Thelen led the team with 61 assists last week with 26 coming against UNR and 35 more vs. SDSU. Thelen also chipped in 11 digs, 10 blocks, seven kills and two aces.
Defensively, five players had 10 or more digs with Allison Davies leading the squad with 23. Falemaka was second with 17, while Glenn followed closely behind with 16. Taylor Richard (13) and Thelen rounded out the quintet.
At the net, Westman led all defenders with 15 blocks (three solo). Thelen was the only other Rebel to hit double digits on the week with 10 blocks (all assisted) of her own.
THELEN NAMED MOUNTAIN WEST PLAYER OF THE WEEK: UNLV setter Stephanie Thelen was named the Mountain West's Volleyball Player of the Week for matches played from Sept. 19-26, 2011. It is the first weekly honor of her career.
Thelen, a 5-11 sophomore from Atlanta, helped UNLV to a perfect 2-0 record last week with sweeps of in-state rival Nevada, Reno and conference-foe San Diego State. She began the week with 26 assists, four digs and four blocks in UNLV's 3-0 win over UNR in Reno. She followed that up with 35 assists, seven digs, six blocks and five kills in the conference-opening match for UNLV and SDSU. The win over UNR was the sixth consecutive in the series, while the victory over SDSU snapped a five-match losing streak to the Aztecs.
"This is a wonderful recognition for Stephanie and the Rebel volleyball program," said head coach Cindy Fredrick. "Stephanie brings a very positive work ethic to the floor every day and has become a very multi-dimensional player. It's nice to see that work rewarded with this honor."
For the week, Thelen averaged 10.17 assists, 1.83 digs, 1.67 blocks and 1.17 kills per set, while hitting .368. She also had two service aces against SDSU. Thelen averaged 2.33 points per set over six total frames.
