University of Nevada Las Vegas
UC Irvine
11/28/2018 10:31:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
UNLV volleyball hosts round one of postseason tournament Thursday; faces UC Irvine Thursday at 7:00 pm.
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Joining the Scarlet & Gray in Las Vegas is Mountain West foe Fresno State (21-10) as well as a pair of squads from the Big West, UC Irvine (16-12) and UC Santa Barbara (17-11). UCSB and FS will open Thursday's action at 4:30 pm, while UNLV and UCI will square off at 7:00 pm. The winners from those matches will meet at 7:00 pm Friday.
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The NIVC's third round will be held Dec. 5-7, while the semifinals will run Dec. 7-9. The tournament's championship match is slated for Dec. 11. Mississippi claimed the 2017 title after it defeated Texas Tech.
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TUNE IN, WATCH & LISTEN: Live stats for this week's NIVC tournament can be found online at UNLVRebels.com in the "schedule" section of the volleyball page. Additionally, all three contests will be streamed live via the Mountain West Network, and, they too, will be linked to UNLVRebels.com.
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MOUNTAIN WEST SENDS FOUR: Colorado State, Fresno State, Wyoming and UNLV will represent the Mountain West in this year's postseason. CSU claimed the MW's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and a trip to Pullman, Washington, to face Tennessee after it won the conference's regular-season title for the eighth time in the last nine years.
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Wyoming and UNLV will serve as hosts to the first and second rounds of the NIVC, while Fresno State makes its second trip to Las Vegas - the Rebels concluded their regular-season home slate against the Bulldogs on Nov. 10.
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THE POSTSEASON: Participation in the 2018 NIVC will mark the third trip to the postseason for the UNLV volleyball program, which competed in the NCAA Tournament in 2007 and 2016.
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The Rebels are 1-2 all-time in postseason play, with a first-round loss to Long Beach State in 2007 in Los Angeles (USC) and a 1-1 showing nine years later in Provo, Utah. In '16, the Scarlet & Gray upset No. 22 Utah, 3-1, in the first round before it suffered a three-set loss to No. 10 BYU in the second round.
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SCOUTING THE NIVC TOURNAMENT FIELD
UC Irvine Anteaters (16-12 overall, 10-6 Big West)
-The Anteaters have lost two straight and four of their last six matches entering the NIVC
-The Anteaters began the year 1-5 before going on a 13-3 run prior to the recent 2-4 stretch
-The Anteaters have played 15 of their 28 matches to three sets with a 9-6 showing
-The Anteaters are 7-6 in matches played to four or more sets: 7-1 in four and 0-5 in five
-The Anteaters are 8-7 in matches played outside of Irvine: 5-5 away, 3-2 neutral
-The Rebels leads the all-time series 5-4; however, the Anteaters won the last meeting, 3-2, on Sept. 8, 2017
Fresno State Bulldogs (21-10 overall, 13-5 MW)
-The Bulldogs have lost two of three - all at home - entering the NIVC​​​​​​​
-The Bulldogs began the year 7-1; however, they suffered through a stretch of four losses in five outings prior to a 12-3 run that preceded the current 1-2 stretch
-The Bulldogs have played 13 of their 31 matches to four sets with a 9-4 showing
-The Bulldogs have played 11 matches to three sets (7-4) and five to seven (5-2)
-The Bulldogs are 12-6 in matches played outside of Fresno: 9-3 away, 3-3 neutral
-The Rebels and Bulldogs are deadlocked 10-10 in the all-time series; however, the latter has won four straight dating back to 2017
UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (17-11 overall, 9-7 Big West)
-The Gauchos have won three straight and five of their last seven entering the NIVC​​​​​​​
-The Gauchos began the year 2-3 before going on a 10-3 run that was followed by a 2-5 stretch prior to the three wins to close out the regular season
-The Gauchos are 15-6 in matches that go three (8-4) or four (7-2) sets, but 2-5 in those that end in five
-The Gauchos are 10-7 in matches played outside of Santa Barbara: 6-5 away, 4-2 neutral
-The Gauchos lead the all-time series 3-7; however, the Rebels have won three of the last four, including a 3-0 win on Aug. 26, 2016
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES: UNLV's 19 wins this season are 11 more than the eight registered by the 2017 squad during its 8-23 campaign. The Rebels are one of six teams with at least a plus-11 differential in victories from one year ago.
Stetson, Bradley and FIU top the short list at plus-13. UMKC, a squad the Scarlet & Gray defeated 3-0 in St. Louis in September, was plus-12. Like UNLV, Loyola-Chicago ended the year plus-11.
Only UNLV and Bradley will have the opportunity to up their win totals, as both are participants in this week's NIVC tournament.Â
MARIENA(CE) TO SOCIETY: UNLV sophomore Mariena Hayden concluded the regular season with 94 aces, and that output is the most by a NCAA Division I student-athlete this season. More impressively, Hayden's output is the third most by a NCAA Division I student-athlete since the 25-point scoring format was adopted in 2008. She only trails Penn State's Micha Hancock's 91 and Jackson State's Christine Edwards from 2011 and 2012, respectively.
HAYDEN, BRENNAN RECOGNIZED BY MOUNTAIN WEST: One day after learning that it earned an at-large bid into the 2018 National Invitational Volleyball Championship, the UNLV volleyball program had two of its own recognized by the Mountain West for their play during the league season Monday. Sophomore Mariena Hayden was selected to the MW's All-Conference Team, while freshman Kate Brennan garnered Honorable Mention status.
PURCHASE TICKETS: Single-game ticket prices for the NIVC are $8 for adults, $6 for faculty/staff and seniors, although a special internet price of $5 is available for all tickets bought online at UNLVTickets.com, good up to three hours before the match. All UNLV students as well as middle school and elementary students are now free under UNLV's new admission policy. Kids not yet elementary school age will continue to receive free admission for all UNLV Olympic sports.
