Sept. 12, 2014 Box Score: UNLV 3, Seattle 0
SEATTLE (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV volleyball team (7-2) continued its winning ways with a 3-0 sweep (25-16, 25-18, 27-25) of the Seattle Redhawks (2-6) at the Connolly Center in the Emerald City. The victory is the fifth straight for the Rebels and the fifth overall this season by a sweeping fashion.
The Rebels outhit the Redhawks .219 to .070 in the match with help from an edge in errors (14-25) in 18 fewer swings (96-114) and a slight advantage in kills (35-33). UNLV opened up the contest with a staggering .406 efficiency in the first set before hitting .121 and .129 in the subsequent frames. SU, on the other hand, topped out with a .171 effort in the third and final stanza after its hitters produced paltry figures - .061 and .000 - earlier.
The Scarlet & Gray was led by Bree Hammel, who led the squad with eight kills off an astonishing .571 hitting clip. On the defensive side of the net, Hammel registered six digs and two assisted blocks.
Ceannia Kincade and Alyssa Wing followed closely behind Hammel in kills with seven of their own. Kincade contributed seven digs and three assisted blocks to Wing's two digs and one assisted block.
Alexis Patterson dished out a match-high 29 assists to go along with seven digs, two kills and two assisted blocks.
Defensively, Allison Davies had 12 kills, which tied for the most in the match by an individual. Daryn Glenn, who had five kills, chipped in nine digs, as well, for the winning side.
"We played solid defense and we were able to neutralize their 6'5" middle, which helped our transition," said head coach Cindy Fredrick. "We came back in both sets two and three, which showed good toughness, as the team made good adjustments.
The match featured 20 tie scores and eight lead changes.
The opening set was tightly contested from the start until UNLV overcame a one-point deficit at 5-4 with four straight points to push ahead for good. In fact, that four-point run was a catalyst to UNLV winning 14 of 18 points to stake itself to the first of four nine-point leads.
Set two was controlled by SU, who led by as much as four points, until the Rebels pulled even at 14-all. Following the equalizer, UNLV outscored the Redhawks 11-4 the rest of the frame.
The third and final set was a seesaw affair that had eight tie scores and two scores in the early going. Neither team could build more than a two-point cushion until SU strung together a 4-0 run for a 15-11 lead. The hosts maintained its advantage until UNLV evened it up at the 20-all juncture. From that moment forward, the lead swapped hands three times until the Rebels claimed it for the final time at 24-23. SU fought off two set-point opportunities by UNLV until it finally succumbed on the final one, which was at the 26-25 mark for the 27-25 win.
SU's Matea Mamic led all players with 10 kills. The hosts also got team bests of 28 assists from Kerry Lane, 12 digs from Shelby Babcock and four assisted blocks from Martina Samadan.
The Rebels will head about five miles south of the Connolly Center to the Alaska Airlines Arena to face the fifth-ranked Washington Huskies at 7:00 pm. Earlier today, UW improved to 8-0 after sweeping UC Davis - UNLV's Saturday opponent.
NOTES: UNLV's five-match winning streak is the program's longest since it won six straight in the 2012 campaign from Sept. 15 to Oct. 4 ... UNLV has held three opponents to .100 or below hitting efficiencies this season and each has occurred during the five-match winning streak - UC Riverside (Aug. 31: .011), Siena (Sept. 6: .074) and Seattle (Sept. 12: .070) ... In all seven of UNLV's wins this season, it has held its opponents to .171 or below hitting efficiencies ... In UNLV's career record book, Winters moved up to sixth place in assisted blocks with 222 after she surpassed two former players Amber Graham (220: 1998-00) and Stephanie Thelen (221: 2010-13) ... UNLV's match against #5 Washington Friday evening will be the sixth instance that it has faced a top-five team since the rebirth of the program in 1996 ... #5 Washington will be the highest opponent UNLV has faced since it played #8 Florida and #9 in two of its first three matches in 2009.
