PITTSBURGH (UNLVRebels.com) – The UNLV volleyball team (3-2) went 1-1 on the first day of the Duquesne Invitational at the A.J. Palumbo Center. The Rebels, who have won three of their last four matches, suffered a five-set loss (14-25, 25-22, 26-24, 20-25, 15-9) to the Youngstown State Penguins (4-1) in their first match, but came out on top in Friday's final bout with a 3-1 victory (25-23, 26-24, 25-21, 25-18) over the host Duquesne Dukes (2-2).
The Scarlet & Gray will return to the court Saturday with a 1:00 pm PT (10:00 am ET) tilt with the Bowling Green Falcons (1-5), who went 1-1 Friday with a five-set loss to Duquesne and a sweep of Youngstown State.
QUOTABLE: "Today, we started off pretty rough," said head coach
Dawn Sullivan. "We struggled this morning trying to find our rhythm with our middles and right sides, and just in serve and pass; by the end of match just really struggled. I felt pretty proud of this group with the kind of character they showed to come in the second match. They really put it together and found that rhythm and stuck with the process. I think over time you're going to run into those rough spots and can we just stick with it. Throughout the day, I thought we had some nice individuals that came off the bench and did a really nice job, stepped up and helped us. Mo (
Mariena Hayden) had nine aces breaking a school record; just very proud of it. She went back there and ripped it. We give her the green light, we say go for it and she started to feel comfortable enough to let it go. I'm very proud of her."
MATCH ONE
The Rebels jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, but fell into a 2-1 hole after the Penguins rallied for wins in the second and third sets. UNLV fought back and forced a fifth frame after it won the fourth 25-20; however, the Ohio squad claimed the final stanza – 15-9 – and, subsequently, the match.
UNLV outhit YSU by 25 points (.269 to .244) with help from 19 more kills (72-53) in 16 more attack attempts (182-156), but also committed eight more hitting errors (23-15). The Rebels notched better hitting figures in three of the five sets, with a .441 in the first, .311 in the third and a .300 in the fourth, while the Penguins hit .293 and .500 in the second and fifth, respectively.
The Rebels also dished out 20 more assists (70-50), aced six more serves (12-6) and had five more digs (79-74). The Penguins performed better at the net defensively with eight more total team blocks (13.0-5.0), with four solo blocks paired with 18 assisted compared to the Rebels' 10 assisted putbacks.
THE TURNING POINT: Moments after evening the match at 2-all, UNLV was unable to carry the fourth-set momentum into the fifth, as YSU pushed out to a quick 7-1 lead with help from four Rebel attack errors. UNLV managed to win four of the following six points, but was unable to get any closer than five points the rest of the way.
STAT OF THE GAME: YSU did not commit an attack error in the fifth and final set after it had misfired a total of 15 times in the first four frames. In all, the Penguins had eight kills in 16 swings. Conversely, the Rebels had six errors in the fifth against eight kills in 24 attempts.
REBEL OF THE GAME: Mariena Hayden posted career highs in both kills and aces with 26 and 10, respectively, with the latter figure being a UNLV single-match record. Pairing her 26 kills with 18 digs gave Hayden her third double-double on the year and 13th of her career. Additionally, she had a career-best five assists.
MATCH TWO
The Rebels lost the opening set for only the second time of the season before they turned things around with a win in the second that was duplicated in the third and fourth.
UNLV outhit DU by 63 points (.208 to .145) primarily due to the former committing 12 fewer attack errors (16-28); although, the latter had three more kills (51-48) in five more swings (159-154). The Rebels hit between .259 (fifth set) to .170 (third), and had as few as two errors (fourth) and as many as five (second and third). The Dukes, on the other hand, led off with their best effort in the first (.243) only to see their hitting efficiency go down in each subsequent set as their error count grew in the same time frame.
The Rebels were tops in aces (9-4) and total team blocks (8.0-7.0), but the Dukes led in assists (49-46) and digs (81-66).
STAT OF THE GAME: UNLV had three players notch double-doubles with
Mariena Hayden (19 kills, 18 digs) and
Jillian Berg (11 kills, 13 digs) going with a kills-digs combination, while
Lauryn Burt's was off a pairing of assists (19) and digs (13).
REBEL OF THE GAME: Besides providing 19 assists and 13 digs, Burt chipped in three aces and one kill.
REBEL NOTES:
- UNLV sits 1-1 all-time versus Youngstown State and 1-0 against Duquesne in program history.
- Hayden had two double-doubles Friday with 26 kills and 18 digs vs. Youngstown State and 19 kills and 18 digs against Duquesne.
-Hayden's nine aces surpassed Bree Hammel, Patricia Assuncao, Christel Eves and Denise Brooks and their four-way tie for the most aces in a single-match record.
- Berg had two double-doubles Friday with 14 kills and 15 digs vs. Youngstown State and 11 kills and 13 digs against Duquesne.
REBELS BACK HOME: UNLV returns to Las Vegas and the Cox Pavilion for its Rebel Challenge next weekend. The Scarlet & Gray will welcome Cal State Fullerton, Eastern Kentucky and Fordham for the two-day affair Sept. 7-8.
