11/8/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
2016 UNLV Volleyball Weekly Notes: Week Twelve
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV volleyball team returns to Las Vegas and the Cox Pavilion for its only match of the week, a Thursday night affair (6:00 pm) with Utah State. This contest signals the final stretch of the season for the Rebels; the team will host three of its final four with a road contest at San Diego State (November 16) falling between Thursday's bout and ones against Nevada, Reno (November 19) and New Mexico (November 22).
COMING DOWN TO THE WIRE: Entering the week, UNLV sits fourth overall in the Mountain West with a 10-4 mark. Road losses at Colorado State and Wyoming last week dropped the Rebels behind those two as well as Boise State in the Conference standings. BSU and CSU are tied for the top spot with identical 11-2 records while UW is 10-3.
UNLV's final four MW opponents sit between fifth (Nevada, Reno/8-5) and eighth (New Mexico/4-10) in the standings. San Diego State (6-7) is sixth while this week's foe, Utah State, is seventh (6-8).
Of the three MW squads sitting ahead of the Rebels in the standings, BSU has the more favorable schedule with four of its final five matches set to take place in Boise, Idaho. Both CSU and UW will play four of their final five on the road. This trio will also square off with each other once.
PROMOTIONAL ITEM OF INTEREST
Thursday: It's Heroes Week - Military, Police, Fire and Emergency Responders can get two (2) free tickets with I.D. Giveaways and prizes will also be handed out as part of "You Never Know Night."
TUNE IN, WATCH & LISTEN: Live stats for UNLV Volleyball's home match this week versus Utah State can be found online at UNLVRebels.com. Additionally, that contest will be streamed live via the Mountain West Network and, they too, will be linked to UNLVRebels.com.
REBELS RANKED NO. 28 IN THE RPI: The NCAA released the sixth installment of its volleyball Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) Monday, and UNLV is listed at No. 28. The Rebels, who have previously been ranked No. 15, 18, 17, 25 and 22, have achieved their ranking due to the fact they sport a 21-5 overall record.
In this week's RPI release, UNLV is one of five non-Power Five programs to make the top 25. Those four other squads are the West Coast Conference's San Diego Toreros (No. 5/21-3) and BYU Cougars (No. 7/22-3) and Big East's Creighton Bluejays (No. 16/20-6) Conference USA's Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (No. 17/26-2). The Big Ten's Wisconsin Badgers (No. 1/20-3), Nebraska Cornhuskers (No. 3/18-3) and Minnesota Golden Gophers (No. 4/19-4) own three of the top-four spots while the Big 12's Texas Longhorns (No. 2/18-3) fall into the mix.
The RPI is a system the NCAA uses to rank teams based upon a their wins and losses as well as its strength of schedule. UNLV's ranking has been greatly influenced by the last component, as it has faced eight teams in the top 100 - No. 7 BYU, No. 33 Boise State, No. 47 Colorado State, No. 61 Wyoming, No. 62 Hofstra, No. 70 UC Santa Barbara, No. 71 New Mexico State and No. 74 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi - and owns a 6-5 record against them.
WINNING & SITTING NEAR THE TOP: As of November 6, UNLV's 21-5 overall record translates to .808, which is tied for the 22nd-best winning percentage in the country. Dayton (26-1) and Nebraska (22-1) lead the nation in winning percentage with their .963 and .957 figures, respectively. Western Kentucky (.929/26-2), Florida (.917/22-2) and Kansas (.917/22-2) round out the top five.
Delving deeper into the numbers, the Scarlet & Gray is only one of 29 teams to have suffered a maximum of five defeats this season; however, it's one of 20 to have done so with 21 or more victories.
WKU and Dayton lead all with 26 wins apiece while American and Fairfield follow closely behind with 24. Howard and Florida Gulf Coast have won 23 each. There are 11 that have claimed victory 22 times and 12 more that sit at 21.
