Sept. 19, 2014 Box Score: UNLV 3, Grambling 0
CONWAY, Ark. (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV volleyball team registered its seventh victory this season by a 3-0 margin with its triumph over the Grambling Tigers (1-8) Friday morning at Central Arkansas' Sugar Bear Invitational. The win - by set scores of 25-12, 25-8, 25-12 - was the seventh in the last eight outings by the Rebels, who improved to 9-3 on the year.
Though 12 matches, the Scarlet & Gray's 9-3 mark is tied with only the 1998 and 2006 editions for the second-best start to a season dating back to the program's rebirth in 1996. The nine wins are only one behind the 10 that were won by the 2007 squad en route to its Mountain West Championship and NCAA Tournament berth.
UNLV outhit Grambling .465 to .000 with the assistance of six players that had a minimum of four kills and hit .333 or better. As a team, the Rebels topped out with a .550 hitting effort in the second set, while they tallied .440 and .423 clips in the first and third frames, respectively. They threw down 42 kills and committed a season-low nine errors in 71 swings.
The Rebels' .465 hitting efficiency was their highest since a .500 performance vs. Prairie View A&M - a Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) foe of Grambling's - on Sept. 7, 2012. The 465-point disparity in hitting is also the highest since a 684 range (.500 to -.184) in that same bout with PVAMU.
Besides 42 points coming directly from kills, UNLV was able to score 14 times from the service line. The Rebel servers aced 14 serves with both Bree Hammel and Alyssa Wing collecting four. Alexis Patterson added three more to bring her team-leading tally to 14 on the year. On the flip side, the Tigers misfired on 14 serves with eight of those miscues coming from Kayla Lewis.
"This was a very productive offensive game for us," said head coach Cindy Fredrick. "Everyone did a good job of terminating today. Our serves were aggressive and we controlled the net play throughout the match. Overall, it was a very good team performance."
Daryn Glenn was the only player to amass double digits in kills with 10, while hitting .529. Glenn also contributed seven digs and a pair of assisted blocks.
Ceannie Kincade and Hammel had seven kills apiece, while Wing had six. Kincade provided four digs, one assist and one ace to four total blocks (two solo) from Hammel. Wing also contributed defensively with six digs and three assisted blocks.
Patterson had a match-high 32 assists to go along with four kills and four digs.
Allison Davies led all defenders with eight digs.
The Tigers were only able to muster a team-best .037 showing in the third set. They were paced by a quartet of players with three kills apiece, but the team was hampered overall by 15 errors against 15 kills off of 66 attempts.
UNLV returns to the Prince Center at 4:00 pm PT (6:00 pm CT) for a match against the New Orleans Privateers, who fell to 4-7 on the year after a 3-1 loss to Central Arkansas.
NOTES: UNLV's 14 aces against Grambling were the most by the program since the 2005 squad had 14 vs. Air Force (Sept. 14) ... The four aces from both Hammel and Wing are the most by a Rebel since Sekola Falemaka had five against Cal State Fullerton on Aug. 30, 2013 ... UNLV has won the first set in 10 of its 12 matches and owns a 9-1 mark when winning the opening frame ... UNLV has won the first two sets in eight of its 12 matches and owns a 7-1 mark when taking a 2-0 lead into the intermission ... In the Fredrick Era (2011-present), UNLV owns records of 46-10 when it wins the first set and 37-1 when it wins the second set ... In UNLV's career record book, Glenn moved into sole possession of fifth place in total attempts (2,690).
