AMES, Iowa (UNLVRebels.com) – The UNLV Rebels suffered a 3-1 loss (31-29, 25-19, 13-25, 26-24) to the Iowa State Cyclones in a Women's National Invitational Volleyball Championship contest at Hilton Coliseum Saturday. The Rebels conclude the year with a 22-12 overall record, and they became only the sixth team in program history to notch a 20-win season.
 
With the win, ISU (20-13) advances to the NIVC championship match Tuesday against the winner of Saturday night's Tulane and College of Charleston affair, which is being contested in New Orleans.
 
The Cyclones outhit the Rebels by 37 points (.239 to .202) and only threw down two more kills (56-54), but had three fewer errors (18-21) in four fewer attack attempts (159-163). UNLV's best hitting display came in the fourth set with a .448 average backed by 13 kills against zero errors in 29 swings. The Scarlet & Gray was held to .189 or lower efforts in the three remaining sets. ISU saved its best hitting display for last, as it hit .429 (17-2-35) in the fourth. The Cyclones began with a .246, but dropped to .162 and .100 in the second and third, respectively.
 
UNLV held advantages in both assists (50-49) and aces (11-4), and was even in digs (74-74) with ISU, which notched 4.5 more total blocks (11.5-7.0)
 
SET BREAKDOWN: The tightly contested affair's momentum swung to the hosts late in the first set when the visiting Rebels were unsuccessful on seven set-point opportunities after they had led by as much as eight (10-2) early in the stanza. After it claimed the first by outscoring UNLV 11-5 after the 24-20 juncture, ISU ran away with the second, and led by as much as nine (15-6) en route to the six-point win (25-19). The Cyclones pushed out to a four-point lead (6-2) in the third only to see the Rebels turn things around with a 20-4 run in a set won by 25-13. UNLV took control of the fourth after it broke a 6-all tie and maintained the lead until its set-point chance at 24-23; however, three straight Rebel miscues flipped the set and, subsequently, the match to the Cyclones.
 
QUOTABLE: "What a well-fought match," said head coach Dawn Sullivan. "I can't express how incredibly proud I am of this team. They were relentless today as they have been all season. They faced some serious adversity this weekend and fought through it. From the time I arrived on campus this team has been committed to working hard and has developed a mindset to be great. This team is setting a new standard of how volleyball will be played at UNLV and I can't wait to see what the future brings! I'd like to thank our fans for the support throughout the season, and a personal thank you to the amazing fans that turned out today in Ames.
 
REBEL OF THE GAME: Mariena Hayden registered her 20th double-double of the season and 30th of her career off a combination of 10 kills and 18 digs. Additionally, Hayden added a match-best eight aces to go along with two total blocks (one solo).
 
STAT OF THE GAME: The match featured a total of five lead changes with one apiece in the first, second and third sets, while the fourth had two. Moreover, the bout only had 16 ties with six coming in the first and eight in the fourth; there was only one in the second and one in the third.
 
STAT OF THE GAME, PART TWO: UNLV had four players hit .318 or better with a minimum of five kills and two or fewer errors in the match. In all, the quartet of Thea Sweder (.375/11-2-24), Alison French (.389/7-0-18), Elsa Descamps (.318/7-0-22) and Macy Smith (.444/5-1-9) hit .370, as they tallied 30 kills against three errors in 73 swings. The remainder of the team hit .067 (24-18-90).
 
REBEL NOTES:
-UNLV is now 2-1 all-time against Iowa State.
-UNLV is 4-3 all-time in postseason competition, with a 1-2 mark in two trips to the NCAA Tournament (2007: 0-1 and 2016: 1-1) and a 3-1 showing in the NIVC.
-UNLV has only won 22 or more matches six times, and 2018's mark only trails 2014's 26, 2007 and 2016's 24, and 1984 and 1998's 23.
-UNLV's .647 winning percentage this season is sixth best in program history, and trails 2007's .800 (24-6), 2014's .787 (26-7), 2016's .750 (24-8), 1998's .742 (23-8) and 2006's .667 (20-10).
-UNLV's streak of 10.0 or more total team blocks in four straight matches came to an end with only 7.0 against Iowa State. The team had posted only three 10.0-plus block matches through the first 28 contests this season.
-UNLV is 8-5 in Saturday matches.
-UNLV is 13-11 in four-set matches.
-UNLV is 4-8 in matches that it loses the first set.
-UNLV is 0-3 in matches it trails 0-2 after two sets.
-UNLV is 1-9 when it registers a lower hitting efficiency than its opponent.
-UNLV is 4-6 when it registers fewer kills than its opponent.
-UNLV is 3-12 when it registers fewer errors than its opponent.
-Lauryn Burt posted her second double-double of the year off a combination of 22 assists and 11 digs.
-With her 10 kills, Hayden had 543 for the year, which are the most in UNLV's single-season records.
-With her 46 attack attempts, Hayden had 1,323 on the year, which are the most in UNLV's single-season records.
-With her eight aces, Hayden has amassed her fifth match with eight or more aces, and has 114 for the year, which leads the nation and is a UNLV single-season record.
-With her 22 assists, Antonette Rolda had 1,062 on the year, which are the ninth most in UNLV's career records.
-With her help from her .318 hitting against Iowa State, Descamps finished her career at UNLV with the fifth-best hitting efficiency in program history.
-With her two aces, Rolda had 36 on the year, which are tied for the 10th most in UNLV's single-season records.
-Descamps played in 115 matches in her career at UNLV, which are the eighth most in UNLV's career records.
-Descamps played in 423 sets in her career at UNLV, which are the sixth most in UNLV's career records.
-With her three total blocks, Descamps cemented her placement in UNLV's career record book: third in total blocks (446), third in assisted blocks (383) and sixth in solo blocks (63).