Sept. 25, 2014 Box Score: UNLV 3, Fresno State 0
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV volleyball team (13-3) pushed its season-best winning streak to six with a 3-0 sweep (25-11, 25-18, 25-17) of the Fresno State Bulldogs (5-10) to signal the beginning of Mountain West play Thursday night. The victory was the fifth during this current run to end in straight sets and 10th overall by that margin during the 2014 campaign.
The triumph keeps the Scarlet & Gray on pace with the 2007 squad that claimed the Mountain West Championship with the best start in program history, but it also puts begins conference play on the right foot. Dating back to the first season of the MW in 1999, UNLV is 11-5 in league openers and 10-6 in the first one played in Las Vegas.
UNLV outhit FS .349 to .079 primarily due to a staggering advantage in errors. The home side committed 13 fewer miscues (9-22), while it owned a nine-kill edge (39-30) in 15 less swings (86-101). The Rebels topped out with a .550 hitting efficiency in set one before their hitters followed with .294 and .291 clips afterwards. The Bulldogs' hitters, on the other hand, were stuck in a range of .027 (third set) and .111 (second) in the match.
The Rebels came up big on the defensive side of the net, as well. They registered a plus-10 differential in total team blocks (13.0-3.0) with the help of six different players with at least three total blocks apiece.
"It's really nice to start the conference season with a win and especially a sweep," said head coach Cindy Fredrick. "Daryn Glenn had an excellent night; she started us off with terrific serving and followed that with good swings and solid back-row play. Allison Davies' defense was outstanding tonight. Alyssa Wing pounded the ball all night. It was a really balanced performance as Alexis Patterson got all of her hitters involved."
The team was paced by nine kills and a .562 hitting clip from Alyssa Wing, who also chipped in three digs, three assisted blocks and an assist.
Ceannia Kincade provided seven kills to go along with six digs, four assisted blocks, two aces and two assists.
Four other Rebels had a minimum of four kills with Daryn Glenn having six to five each from Alexis Patterson and Bree Hammel and four more from Katlin Winters. Glenn added 10 digs, three assisted blocks (one solo), two aces and an assist. Patterson dished out a match-best 26 assists plus six digs, four total blocks (one solo) and two aces. Hammel led all with six assisted blocks, while Winters had three, as well.
Allison Davies, who had two assists, one kill and one ace, joined Glenn in dig double figures with her match-high 18.
The Bulldogs got team highs in kills from Maci Murdock (eight), assists from Brooke Legaux (25) and digs from Maggie Eppright (10).
The contest featured only two lead changes and four tie scores with all of the former and three of the latter taking place in the second set. UNLV took the lead in both sets one and three and never looked back, but an early four-point lead in the middle stanza swung in FS's favor. Trailing by four at the 17-13 juncture, the Rebels rattled off 12 of the set's final 13 points to win it by seven (25-17).
The Rebels, who have spent the past three weekends crisscrossing the country, will venture back out on the open road next week with stops in Fort Collins, Colo., and Laramie, Wyo. They will face nationally ranked Colorado State Thursday at 7:00 pm MT (6:00 pm PT) before a tussle against Wyoming Saturday at 2:00 pm MT (1:00 pm PT). The journey also marks off the final time zone in the contiguous United States that UNLV has yet to play in this year.
NOTES: UNLV improved its records in the first set to 14-2, second set to 12-4 and third set to 13-3 ... UNLV improved to 12-2 on the year when it wins the first set of a match and it is 50-10 in the Fredrick Era (2011-present) ... UNLV improved to 10-1 on the year when it wins the second set of a match and it is 40-1 in the Fredrick Era ... UNLV improved its record to 13-0 when it keeps an opponent below a .171 hitting efficiency in a match ...UNLV has held six straight and seven of its last eight opponents to .110 or worse hitting efficiencies ... The win was the second straight and fifth in the last six meetings for UNLV over Fresno State.
