Sept. 20, 2014 Box Score: UNLV 3, Central Arkansas 1
CONWAY, Ark. (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV volleyball team wrapped up its stay at the Sugar Bear Invitational Saturday with its 3-1 victory (25-22, 25-27, 25-16, 25-16) over the host Central Arkansas Sugar Bears at the Prince Center. With the win, the Rebels not only claimed the outright tournament title with a perfect 3-0 mark, but pushed their overall record to 11-3, which is tied for the best start in program history with the 2007 Mountain West Championship team.
The triumph also signifies the end of a three-week, nine-match road trip that witnessed the Scarlet & Gray play in three tournaments, three time zones and four arenas. Overall, UNLV went 8-1 on its cross-country expedition that featured stops in South Orange, N.J., Seattle and Arkansas.
UNLV hit .256 as a team Saturday and owned a two-kill advantage (50-48) in the match despite a disparity of 17 attack attempts (129-146). More importantly, its offense committed only 17 errors compared to 32 for the home side. The Rebels hitting improved in each set with an initial .139 offering in the first, which was subsequently followed by a .162 (second), .353 (third) and .455 (fourth). The Sugar Bears amassed nine or more errors in three of the four stanzas to produce.105 or lower hitting efficiencies. They topped out with a .257 effort in the third when they misfired four times.
The Rebels entered the week nationally ranked in team total blocks (third) and blocks per set (seventh), and they put their defensive talents on display against UCA. They racked up 16 total team blocks (three solo and 26 assisted) to make hitting difficult for the Sugar Bears. Seven different players had a hand in at least one block with Bree Hammel and Katlin Winters leading the way with seven (one solo) and six (one solo) total blocks, respectively.
Hammel and Winters combined to tally 11 kills with the former throwing down six to the latter's five.
Daryn Glenn and Alyssa Wing provided double-doubles to pace the Rebels both in kills and digs. Glenn, who hit for a match-high .484 average, combined a team-best 17 kills with 11 digs for her third double-double of the year and 20th of her career. Wing coupled 11 kills with a career-best 15 digs for her first double-double. Each player helped out at the net with four total blocks.
For their efforts, Hammel, Glenn and Wing were tabbed to the all-tournament team with Hammel taking home MVP honors.
Alexis Patterson guided the offense with her match-high 44 assists to go along with four kills, eight digs, two aces and two assisted blocks.
Allison Davies joined Glenn and Wing in dig double digits with 15 of her own.
"Our blocking was so strong," said head coach Cindy Fredrick. "Bree and Katlin were a major presence at the net. Daryn and Alyssa played well all weekend and Daryn's hits today were exceptional. Ceannia and Ally passed nails, which made Alexis' job much easier. It was a strong performance in a packed gym, so it made the win that much sweeter!"
The Sugar Bears had a trio of notch 10 or more kills with Evie Singleton's 18 leading the way. Heather Schnars and Fulani Petties added 13 and 10, respectively. Kristine Hjembo (23 assists) and Amy South (22) split the setting duties, while Shelbee Berringer had a match-high 16 digs.
The Rebels return to the Cox Pavilion this week for the first time since they hosted the UNLV Invitational the final weekend of August. They will welcome Southern Utah to Las Vegas for a Tuesday affair that will conclude their non-conference portion of the 2014 schedule. Two days later, Fresno State and UNLV will kick off the conference campaign in the Cox Pavilion. Both matches are set for 6:00 pm first serves and will be streamed live on UNLVRebels.com in conjunction with the Mountain West Network. Fans can purchase specially priced $2 tickets for these matches at UNLVTickets.com.
NOTES: In UNLV's career record book, Glenn moved into fifth in digs (955) and seventh in kills (921), while Davies moved into 10th in sets played (387) ... The 16 total team blocks in Saturday's match were the second most registered by UNLV this season.
