LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – The UNLV volleyball team returned to the Cox Pavilion Thursday evening and made quick work of the visiting Utah State Aggies (1-16, 1-4 MW), winning the Mountain West contest in sweeping fashion. The Rebels (7-9, 3-2 MW) were paced by
Mariena Hayden's 22 kills and 11 aces en route to the victory comprised of 25-20, 25-21, 25-14 set scores.
Not only did Hayden's 11 aces help her break the program's single-match record, but they also assisted in her ascension atop the statistical category in the MW's record book. The junior from Belle Plaine, Minnesota, entered the match needing five aces to tie San Diego State's Robyn Gregg's haul of 176 amassed during her four-year career from 2000-03. Not only did Hayden get those five aces, but she got them in succession in the first set. She proceeded to surpass Gregg's mark with an ace in the third frame, which happened to be the first of six aces that occurred in a stretch of seven consecutive serves.
Besides her play at the service line, Hayden registered her second straight 20-plus kill, throwing down 22 against the Aggies after connecting on a career-high-tying 26 Saturday at Fresno State. More impressively, she hit at a .545 clip with only three errors occurring in her 33 attack attempts. On the defensive side of the net, she had five digs and assisted on one block.
The Scarlet & Gray compiled a season-high .334 hitting efficiency backed by 48 kills against 16 errors in 95 attack attempts. UNLV hit .289 in both the first and second sets and then topped out with a staggering .526 (14-4-19) in the third. USU, on the other hand, was held to a .162 average with only 18 kills – 10 of which were in the first set alone – with six errors in 74 swings.
Additionally, the Rebels were aided by seven kills off .385 hitting from
Alison French, six kills off .444 hitting from
Macy Smith and five kills from
Kate Brennan.
REBEL NOTES:
- Thursday's match was only the second three-setter that UNLV has played in this season; going 1-1.
- UNLV pushed its overall lead in the head-to-head series to six matches, which now sits 10-4 in favor of the Rebels.
- Hayden notched her sixth straight double-double with 22 kills and 11 aces; however, her previous five were by kill-dig combinations.
- Hayden's 11 aces against USU surpassed the program's previous record set by herself last year with nine against Youngstown State on Aug. 31, 2018.
- Hayden's 22 kills moved her into the 1,000-kill club at UNLV and into seventh place with 1,014, surpassing Madeline Westman's 1,011 amassed from 2010-13. Hayden is only the eighth Rebel to reach the 1,000-kill milestone in a career at UNLV.
- Hayden upped her career dig total to 838, and is only one away from tying Maria Aladjova (2004-07) for 10th place in program history with 839.
UP NEXT: UNLV returns to Las Vegas and the Cox Pavilion for a conference contest against the Boise State Broncos Saturday, with first serve scheduled for 2:00 pm.
