LOGAN, Utah (UNLVRebels.com) – The UNLV volleyball team completed a perfect weekend of play with its 3-1 victory at Utah State in Mountain West play at the Estes Center. The Rebels, who won behind set scores of 25-21, 20-25, 25-23, 25-18, pulled away from the Aggies with wins in the third and fourth set after the two sat deadlocked at 1-all at the break.
With the win, the Scarlet & Gray has won 11 of its last 12 and upped its overall record to 15-10 and its MW mark to 11-3. USU, on the other hand, sits at 2-24 on the year and 2-12 in the conference after Saturday's loss.
The Rebels outhit the Aggies by 111 points (.289 to .178) with 26 more kills (63-37) in 21 more attack attempts (128-107); however, the former also committed eight more errors (26-18). UNLV opened the match with its best hitting display, a .345 efficiency in the first, and stayed within .240 (second) to .300 (third) the remainder of the affair. USU hit .261 in the second and .242 in the third, but was limited to .120 and .077 efforts in the first and fourth, respectively.
Mariena Hayden paced the Rebels with her 13th double-double of the season off a combination of 22 kills and 10 digs. Hayden, who hit .306 for the match, also added one assist, one ace and four total blocks (one solo).
The Rebels also got 11 kills off .389 hitting from
Thea Sweder. The offense also got seven kills apiece from
Kate Brennan (.455 hitting) and
Macy Smith (.385) and five each from
Erin Davis (.714) and
Alison French, with
Antonette Rolda and
Lauryn Burt dishing out 34 and 24 assists, respectively.
REBEL NOTES:
- The match featured a total of 23 ties and eight lead changes, with the majority of both occurring in the second frame with 10 of the former and four of the latter.
- UNLV has now won three straight in the series and extended its lead to seven matches (11-4) in all-time head-to-head series.
- UNLV is 6-5 in four-set matches this season, having won five of the last six that has ended with a 3-1 score.
- Hayden had one ace in the match to bump her career tally to 210; thus, increasing her UNLV and Mountain West record number with each subsequent ace.
- Hayden's 10 digs give her 950 for her career and within one of tying Sekola Falemaka's 951 amassed from 2010-13 for seventh in the program's career record book.
UP NEXT: UNLV closes out their 2019 home slate in next week against UNR and San Jose State on Thursday (7:00 pm) and Saturday (5:00 pm), respectively. The Rebels and their intrastate rival, the UNR Wolf Pack, will rekindle their portion of the Silver State Series presented by IBEW Local 401 and Nevada Donor Network. The UNLV-UNR match is also volleyball's Code Red match with all fans and students encouraged to wear red while cheering on the Rebels.
Two days later, UNLV will recognize its outgoing senior
Antonette Rolda in the final home match of the year against SJSU. Please note, first serve for the finale has been moved up two hours to 5:00 pm, with senior festivities to follow the conclusion of the affair.
