Feb. 6, 2014

2014 Softball Weekly Notes - Week One (PDF Link)

Sportco Kick Off Classic Tournament Page (HTML Link)

LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV Rebels open up their 2014 softball season at home this weekend and host the Sportco Kick Off Classic at Eller Media Stadium. The three-day tournament, which is in its 10th year - the eighth with Sportco Sporting Goods as the title sponsor - will run from Friday, Feb. 7 through Sunday, Feb. 9.

The Rebels welcome three squads that are either in or just sitting outside of the USA Today/NFCA.org and ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 Preseason Polls. Washington (#3/5) and Baylor (#18/16) are ranked, while Arkansas is in the "receiving votes" category in both polls. All three teams played in the 2013 NCAA Tournament with Arkansas and Baylor being eliminated in the regional round, while Washington advanced to the Women's College World Series.

UC Davis and San Diego join the aforementioned quartet of teams in Las Vegas to round out the six-team contingent.

SPORTCO KICK OFF CLASSIC SCHEDULE

Friday, Feb. 709:00 am    Baylor vs. Washington11:15 am    Baylor vs. San Diego01:30 pm    Washington vs. San Diego03:45 pm    UC Davis vs. Arkansas06:00 pm    UNLV vs. Arkansas08:15 pm    UNLV vs. UC Davis
Saturday, Feb. 809:00 am    Arkansas vs. San Diego11:15 am    UC Davis vs. San Diego01:30 pm    Arkansas vs. Washington03:45 pm    UC Davis vs. Baylor06:00 pm    UNLV vs. Washington08:15 pm    UNLV vs. Baylor
Sunday, Feb. 910:00 am    Arkansas vs. Baylor12:15 pm    Washington vs. UC Davis02:30 pm    UNLV vs. San Diego

ON DECK: The UNLV Rebels stay at home for the second week of the 2014 softball season to host the Easton Desert Classic. The four-day tournament will be comprised of 18 teams that will play a total of 45 games between UNLV's Eller Media Stadium and Stephanie Lynn Craig Park - a three-field complex in nearby Henderson.

A third of the teams coming to Las Vegas for the Easton Desert Classic were participants in the 2013 NCAA Tournament. Florida (#4/3 in the 2014 preseason polls) advanced to the Women's College World Series, while Oregon (#8/8) reached the Super Regionals. BYU, Hawai'i, Minnesota and Portland State joined UF and UO in the postseason tournament.

All four of the Rebels' games will be played at EMS, while 14 of the tournament teams will have at least one contest at UNLV's on-campus stadium.

REBELS PICKED SEVENTH: The UNLV softball program was picked to finish seventh overall in the 2014 Mountain West Softball Preseason Poll by the Conference's nine head coaches. The Rebels collected 27 points in the survey that was topped by back-to-back league champion San Diego State and its haul of seven first-place votes and a total of 63 points. Second place went to Fresno State, who had 56 points and two first-place selections.

Four squads were separated by six points with Boise State taking third with 42 points. Colorado State and San Jose State tied for fourth with 38 apiece, while sixth went to Nevada, Reno with 36. New Mexico (13) and Utah State (11) were predicted to round out the poll in eighth and ninth, respectively.

The 2014 Rebel roster returns 12 letterwinners from last year's edition that won 21 games - three of which were against Top 25 opposition - and finished sixth in the conference standings.

THE 2014 SCHEDULE: The 2014 UNLV softball schedule features a 56-game slate, 30 of which will be contested at the friendly confines of Eller Media Stadium. The season begins with six tournaments and 28 non-conference outings from Feb. 7 to March 15. Following the tournaments, the Rebels will play 21 Mountain West games - seven three-game series - and two games apiece against PAC-12 Conference members Arizona and Oregon State.

This year's schedule is loaded with 11 teams - Arizona, Arkansas, Baylor, Minnesota, Oregon, Oregon State, San Diego State, San Jose State, Texas, UCLA and Washington - that advanced to the 2013 NCAA Tournament and played a total of 47 games in the postseason. Washington and Texas owned identical marks of 7-2 through the regionals, Super Regionals and Women's College World Series. Oregon was 4-2 and advanced to the Super Regionals, but was eliminated in the three-game series.

UNLV will play at least one squad from 13 different conferences for a total of 32 games. The Rebels will play five Pac-12 teams a total of eight times: Arizona three times; Oregon State twice and once apiece against Oregon, UCLA and Washington. The Big West will have five of its own play UNLV six times with UC Davis scheduled twice against UNLV, while Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Northridge, Cal Poly and Long Beach State will play the Scarlet & Gray once.

The Rebels will face three teams from the Big 12 (Baylor, Texas and Texas Tech), Big East (DePaul twice, Georgetown and Seton Hall) and WAC (CSU Bakersfield, New Mexico State and Utah Valley). They'll play once against the SEC (Arkansas), Big 10 (Minnesota), Big Sky (Weber State), Big South (Charleston Southern), America East (Binghamton), MAAC (Canisius), Missouri Valley (Loyola-Chicago) and West Coast Conference (San Diego).

UNLV will open up the year at home with two straight home tournaments beginning with five games in the Sportco Kick Off Classic on Feb. 7-9. The Easton Desert Classic, one of the premier college softball tournaments in the country, will welcome 17 programs to Las Vegas for the four-day affair on Feb. 13-16 that will be contested at both Eller Media Stadium and in nearby Henderson at Stephanie Lynn Craig Park.

After the conclusion of those two tourneys, the Rebels will head to California for three of their next four weekends. They hit the road for the first time at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic on Feb. 20-23. They return home for their Eller Media Stadium Classic from Feb. 28-March 2. Back-to-back trips to Southern California will close out tournament play at the UCLA/Cal State Northridge Invitational (March 7-9) and Titan Classic (March 14-15).

The Rebels head back to Las Vegas for five games the week of March 16-22 with a visit from Arizona - a doubleheader on March 19 - and a three-game conference set against in-state rival Nevada, Reno that will have implications in the Governor's Series presented by NV Energy and sponsored by Barrick Gold.

The team will play consecutive conference series on the road beginning with a stop at San Jose State (March 28-30) and then Boise State (April 4-6). UNLV will host Colorado State (April 11-13) before heading back out to play at New Mexico (April 17-19).

Once the team returns from The Land of Enchantment, the Rebels will play eight of their final 11 at home. They'll play a midweek set against San Diego State (April 22-23) before their last road trip, a stop in Fresno State (April 25-27). The season will conclude with home dates against Oregon State (May 3-4) and Utah State (May 8-10).

PRESEASON RANKINGS: The UNLV Rebels will face five teams that are ranked in both the USA Today/NFCA and ESPN.com/USA Softball Preseason Top 25 Polls. Washington, who is coming off a trip to the Women's College World Series, is the highest ranked opponent on UNLV's schedule in 2014. The Huskies enter the year ranked third in the USA Today/NFCA Poll and fifth in the ESPN.com/USA Softball edition.

Oregon (#8/8), Texas (#10/10), UCLA (#16/13), Baylor (#18/16) are the four remaining squads ranked in the preseason polls.

There are three other teams listed in the receiving votes categories in each poll that will square off against the Rebels this season. Arizona, Arkansas and Oregon State are charted in both, while Long Beach State is in the USA Today/NFCA Poll and Minnesota is in the ESPN.com/USA Softball.