Box Score

LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV volleyball team recorded its 20th win of the 2016 campaign with a 3-0 sweep of the San Jose State Spartans Thursday evening at the Cox Pavilion. With the victory â€" by set scores of 25-20, 26-24, 25-13, the Rebels upped their overall record to 20-3 and 9-2 in Mountain West play. The Spartans, on the other hand, dropped to 10-13 for the year and 3-8 against league competition.

The 2016 squad is only the sixth in program history to reach the 20-win milestone, and it joined the 1984 (23 wins), 1998 (23), 2006 (20), 2007 (24) and 2014 (26) editions to do so.

Not only did the triumph mean something for the program's record book, but it also kept the Rebels atop the MW's standings with Boise State, which is 9-2 after a 3-0 win at Nevada, Reno Thursday. Colorado State (8-2) sits one half of a game behind the pair in third.

UNLV outhit SJSU by 187 points (.260 to .073), and that disparity was helped by a five-kill advantage (39-34) in five fewer attack attempts (104-109). The hosts also held an edge in errors, as the visitors committed 14 more miscues (26-12) in the contest. The Rebels topped out with a .314 hitting efficiency in the second and hit .222 or above in the other two frames. The Spartans opened with a .146 and upped their output to .189 in the second, but regressed to a -.161 in the third and final stanza.

"Our defense set the pace tonight with solid blocking and really good digs," said head coach Cindy Fredrick. "The hitting was solid with few errors. Alyssa's (Wing) kills were so strong tonight and Alexis (Patterson) was very active offensively, as well. It was a good, overall team performance tonight."

The Rebel offense was led by a combined effort of 24 kills from Alyssa Wing and Bree Hammel. Wing led all in the match with a .600 hitting efficiency (13-1-20) and also was tops in kills with 13). Hammel threw down 11 kills and hit .296 to go along with one ace, five digs and four assisted blocks (one solo).

Alexis Patterson had a match-high 30 assists and also added five kills of her own off .556 hitting. Defensively, Patterson chipped in seven digs and four assisted blocks, as well.

On the defensive side of the net, Elisa Woinowsky and Carly Riehl had 12 and 10 digs, respectively, while Ashley Owens had six assisted blocks and Elsa Descamps had five more.

The Spartans got a match-best 18 digs from Luiza Andrade while Nandyala Gama had a team-high nine kills and five assisted blocks, and Breann Robinson had a team-high 26 assists.

UNLV returns to the Cox Pavilion for a Saturday matinee at 3:00 pm versus the Fresno State Bulldogs, who suffered a 3-2 loss at New Mexico Thursday.

NOTES: Hammel moved into a seventh-place tie (48) for solo blocks with Candice Thomas (2010-12) in the program's record book … She also moved into a tie for 10th (32) in aces with Christel Eves (1998) in the single-season book … With the win, UNLV has won six straight and seven of the last eight against San Jose State … With the win, UNLV is 24-3 in its last 27 home matches, and that includes a 10-1 mark this season.