FULL 2019 SCHEDULE

LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - UNLV softball has released its 2019 schedule, announced head coach Kristie Fox Wednesday. The upcoming spring campaign will feature a 53-game slate, with 29 contests against non-conference opponents and 24 games against league opponents as part of eight three-game series in Mountain West play. Twenty seven of the 53 contests will be played at Eller Media Stadium.

In 2019, the Rebels will look to build off an outstanding first year under Fox last spring, where at 33-20 they captured their most wins in eight years and first winning season since 2011. The 33 wins for Fox were also the most by a first-year head coach in program history. UNLV began the season strong, going 20-8 for its best start since 1996, then finished strong, winning 12 of its last 16 games to reach the postseason for the first time since 2009. The Scarlet and Gray were the No. 1 overall seed in the National Invitational Softball Championship tournament and reached the NISC regional finals.

This year's schedule has the Rebels taking on three teams that appeared in the 2018 NCAA Tournament - Atlantic 10 Champions Fordham, Long Beach State and conference foe Boise State. The Scarlet and Gray will also get a rematch with UC Riverside, who beat them twice to win the NISC Regional hosted by UNLV at Eller Media Stadium last May.

UNLV opens the 2019 slate with five tournaments, playing 26 non-league games from Feb. 8 - March 10, which includes a single mid-week game against the University of San Diego on Thursday, March 7 in Las Vegas. UNLV will host the first two tournaments of the year at Eller Media Stadium - Feb. 8-10 and Feb. 14-17 - then will head out on the road for the next three - UC Riverside's Amy S. Harrison Classic Feb. 22-24, Coastal Carolina's 2019 Chanticleer Showdown March 1-3 and Stanford's Softball Classic March 8-10 - before beginning conference play on March 15.

Overall, the Rebels' 29 non-conference contests will be against 22 opponents from 18 different conferences. The Rebels will have three games against Power 5 schools - one against Maryland of the Big 10 and two against Stanford of the Pac-12 -  and two against Big East members Seton Hall and Georgetown. UNLV will play three schools from the Big Sky (Utah Valley, Southern Utah, Weber State); two each from the Western Athletic Conference (Utah Valley, Cal Baptist) and the Big West (Long Beach State, UC Riverside); and one each from the American East (Massachusetts-Lowell), Atlantic 10 (Fordham), Atlantic Sun (Jacksonville), Big South (Radford), Conference USA (UTEP), Mid-American (Miami-Ohio), Ohio Valley (Austin Peay), Patriot League (Bucknell), Summit League (North Dakota) and the West Coast Conference (San Diego).

The Rebels get the season underway February 8 against Seton Hall, then face Utah Valley, Long Beach State, North Dakota and Southern Utah the remainder of the weekend at season-opening tournament. The following weekend, UNLV will take on Fordham, Utah Valley again, Miami-Ohio, Georgetown, Weber State and UTEP from Thursday, February 14 through Sunday, February 17 in Las Vegas.

The next three weekends will be on the road, beginning at UC Riverside where they will play Portland State twice, Maryland and the host team UCR from Feb. 22-24. After the short trip to California, the Rebels will be heading across the country to Conway, South Carolina, for the Chanticleer Showdown March 1-3, where they will go against Austin Peay, Jacksonville State, Radford and host Coastal Carolina twice. UNLV will then welcome San Diego to Eller Media Stadium for a week-day matchup on Thursday, March 7, before jetting off to Stanford for the Cardinal's tournament March 8-10, where the Rebels will face Bucknell twice, University of Massachusetts-Lowe and Stanford twice.

UNLV will begin Mountain West play at home against defending conference champion Boise State, March 15-17. Alternating the home and away series from last season, the Rebels will also host Fresno State (April 5-7), San Jose State (April 18-20) and New Mexico (May 9-11) and travel to Utah State (March 22-24), San Diego State (March 29-31), Colorado State (April 12-14) and UNR (May 3-5). 

The Rebels recently wrapped up their fall ball season and will begin practice for the spring in early January.