LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – The Rebel volleyball team opened the 2018 season at home against the Indiana Hoosiers and Southern Utah Thunderbirds in their own UNLV Invitational at the Cox Pavilion Friday. The Scarlet & Gray came away with one win and one defeat, with a 3-1 setback to the Big Ten's Hoosiers followed by a 3-0 sweep of the Big Sky's Thunderbirds.
Besides the win going in the books as the first of the season, it was also the first for first-year head coach
Dawn Sullivan. Sullivan came to UNLV in January after 13 seasons as an assistant and associate head coach at Iowa State – a program that has competed in 12 straight NCAA Tournaments.
MATCH ONE
The Rebels dropped the first set to IU, but bounced back to even the match at 1-all with a win in the second frame. Unfortunately, the Hoosiers triumphed in the third and fourth to claim a 3-1 victory (26-24, 17-25, 25-23, 25-19).
The Rebels outhit the Hoosiers by 27 points (.196 to .169) backed by eight more kills (58-50) in one fewer attack attempt (153-154). UNLV committed four more errors (28-24), but hit .154 or better in all four sets, while it topped out at .238 in the third. IU, on the other hand, hit .250 and .286 in the third and fourth, respectively, but was limited to .143 or lower in first two stanzas. Besides the hitting figures, UNLV led in assists (57-48), aces (3-2) and digs (71-61). The Hoosiers performed better defensively at the net with 7.0 more total team blocks (14.0-7.0).
Mariena Hayden and
Jillian Berg posted double-doubles for UNLV with the later combining a match highs in kills (24) and digs (22), while the former paired 10 kills with 18 digs.
STAT OF THE GAME: The Hoosiers only committed nine attack errors in the final two sets of the match after they misfired 15 times – nine alone in the second frame in one and two. IU started the match hitting .189, but turned things around after losing the second to the host Rebels with a combined .265 clip.
REBEL OF THE GAME: Mariena Hayden posted career highs in both kills and digs with 24 and 22, respectively. By virtue of her double-digit display, Hayden notched her 11th career double-double. Overall, she led the Rebels in hitting with a .306 average off 49 swings.
MATCH TWO
The Rebels made quick work of SUU in Friday's nightcap by winning in straight sets: 25-15, 25-21, 25-17. UNLV limited its mistakes in the first and third sets and came out on top in the middle despite its offense committed seven attack errors.
UNLV outhit SUU by 130 points (.312 to .182) with help from 10 more kills and three fewer attack attempts (12-15) in only five more swings (93-88). Additionally, the Rebels hit .219 or better in each frame, and topped out at .455 (17-2-33) in the third set. The Thunderbirds had a team-best .364 (12-4-22) performance – to no avail – in the second set, but also tallied .069 and .162 efforts in the first and third, respectively.
Four different Rebels contributed seven or more kills, with Hayden leading all with 10.
Kate Brennan and Berg had eight apiece, while
Elsa Descamps had seven.
STAT OF THE GAME: UNLV aced nine serves in the match with three each coming from Hayden and Berg with the setters responsible for the remaining three –
Lauryn Burt had two and
Antonette Rolda had one. The last time the Rebels had nine aces in a match was against Eastern Washington on August 26, 2017.
REBEL OF THE GAME: Burt led the match with 19 assists and five digs to go along with her two aces.
REBEL NOTES:
- IU took a 2-1 edge in the all-time series between UNLV after the morning meeting. The Hoosiers picked up their first win over UNLV last year in a tournament they hosted in Bloomington during the fourth week of the season.
- UNLV improved to 9-2 over SUU with its sweep Friday night. In fact, the Rebels have won nine straight after the squad from Cedar City, Utah, claimed the first two encounters in 1978.
UNLV INVITATIONAL UPDATE: The Hoosiers sit undefeated after day one with a pair of 3-1 wins over UNLV and LIU Brooklyn, who are both 1-1. LIU's win came in a 3-0 decision over SUU, who also was swept by UNLV.
NEXT FOR THE REBELS: UNLV will close out the Invitational Saturday afternoon at 2:00 pm against the LIU Blackbirds.
