Nov. 22, 2016 Box Score
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV volleyball team completed regular-season and Mountain West play with a 3-1 victory over the New Mexico Lobos Tuesday night at the Cox Pavilion. The Rebels, who improved to 23-7 overall and 12-6 in the MW, got a triple-double from Alexis Patterson and double-doubles from their international connection, Elsa Descamps and Elisa Woinowsky in the win. The Scarlet & Gray claimed the affair behind set scores of 25-15, 25-23, 20-25, 25-21.
This is the third instance that UNLV has concluded a regular season with 23 wins (1984 and 1998), and it's the third-best win total in program history. The 23 victories only trail the 26 tallied by the 2014 squad and 2007's 24.
With a combination of Tuesday's Rebel win and a loss by Wyoming in its Border War contest with Colorado State, UNLV finished league play in sole possession of third place. Boise State (16-2), which had already sewn up the MW's automatic bid to the 2016 NCAA Tournament, won the Conference title outright with its 3-0 sweep of Air Force. Colorado State (15-3) took second while Wyoming (11-7) was one spot back of UNLV in fourth.
The Rebels entered the week No. 32 in the RPI, and now the team must wait to see if the NCAA committee will come calling with an at-large bid to postseason play. ESPNU will air the tournament's selection show Sunday at 6:00 pm PT.
"This was just an incredible match," said head coach Cindy Fredrick, the winningest coach in program history. "I'm so proud of Alexis -- getting a triple-double is remarkable -- she ran her offense perfectly tonight. Elsa hit and blocked so well -- and for a double-double! It's not easy for a libero to get a double-double so huge kudos to Elisa tonight. All of our hitters came through, and Caitlin (Wernentin) did a great job. Bree's (Hammel) front and back row attacks were on the money. You have to credit Ashley (Owens), as well, for a really strong front row. It was just a very good team effort for a solid win tonight!"
Patterson's triple-double came from a compilation of 37 assists, 12 digs and 10 kills, which were a career high. She also hit at a .412 clip with only three errors in 17 total swings, and added two assisted blocks.
In a bit of irony, Patterson accomplished the feat in front of the last two members of the program to achieve the feat, and they were teammate Bree Hammel and alumna Nicki King, who was in the crowd. Hammel recorded her triple-double last year with 16 kills, 12 digs and 10 blocks against Green Bay on September 4 at a tournament in Manhattan, Kansas. King's occurred in 2004 against Wyoming (58 assists, 12 digs and 11 kills).
Descamps, who had one assist and one dig, combined 10 kills and 11 total blocks (one solo) for her first career double-double while Woinowsky paired career highs in both digs (19) and assists (11) for her first as a Rebel.
Bree Hammel and Caitlin Wernentin led the Rebel attack with 15 and 12 kills, respectively. The former also added seven digs and five assisted blocks to the latter's two digs and two assisted blocks.
In all, UNLV had six players register a minimum of six kills as Sadie Stutzman chipped in nine and Ashley Owens had six of her own. Stuzman had a hand in four assisted blocks, two digs and one assist. Owens was involved in four total blocks, one of which was of the solo variety.
Besides Woinowsky and Patterson's dig tallies, the team also got eight more from Laura Butler, who also aced three serves.
For the match, UNLV outhit UNM by 143 points (.296 to .153) with an edge of 15 more kills (62-46) in only five more swings (142-137) and five fewer errors (20-25). The Rebels opened the bout with a staggering .600 hitting display that consisted of 15 kills against no errors in 25 attack attempts. The hosts followed with a .395 effort (20-5-38) in the second; however, they only managed .146 and .158 clips in the third and fourth stanzas, respectively. The Lobos, on the other hand, topped out with a .258 average in the second, but were held to a range of .000 (fourth) to .229 (third) the rest of the affair.
Devanne Sours and Julia Warren paced the visitors from Albuquerque, New Mexico, with 17 and 13 kills, respectively. Lise Rugland dished out a match-high 39 assists while teammate Ashley Kelsey topped all participants with 22 digs.
NOTES: UNLV's 23-7 record this season translates to a .767 winning percentage, which is the third best in program history, and it only trails 2014's .800 (24-6) and 2016's .788 (26-7) efforts ... UNLV's 12 conference wins are tied for the second most in program history, and they sit even with 12 from 2007, but trail 2014's 14 ... In the program's career record book, Descamps moved into second all-time in hitting efficiency (.292) and Hammel improved to third in assisted blocks (334) ... In the single-season record book, Hammel moved into fifth in both kills (423) and total attempts (1,127); Patterson claimed seventh in assists (1,183) and jumped her previous best and now eighth-place 1,171 assists from 2014; and Descamps moved into ties for fourth in assisted blocks (126) and fifth in total blocks (137).
