LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – The UNLV Volleyball team will travel to Valparaiso, Indiana for their season finale at the championship match of the Women's National Invitational Volleyball Championship. The Rebels will square off against the Beacons Sunday night, Dec. 12 at 5 p.m. (PT) in the Athletics-Recreation Center (ARC) on the campus of Valparaiso University.

UNLV and Valparaiso are the final two teams remaining in the National Invitational Volleyball Championships. The Rebels secured their spot in the championship match with the win over UTEP (3-1) Thursday evening in El Paso and the Beacons punched their ticket Friday evening with a three set sweep over UConn in Valparaiso. 

TUNE IN, WATCH & LISTEN 
Fans can follow the NIVC championship contest through live stats and social media, as well as stream the match on ESPN+. Links to live stats and live video can also be found online at UNLVRebels.com in the "schedule" section of the team's volleyball page, as well as on the team's official social media channels. 

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING
UNLV and Valparaiso have met once before at home in August of 2009, where the Rebels won in four sets. 

THE MOUNTAIN WEST IN POSTSEASON
Boise State was knocked out in the first round of the NCAA Tournament after falling in a three-set sweep to No. 11-seed BYU (25-6, 25-19, 25-10) in Provo, Utah. Colorado State fell in the second round of the NIVC to UTEP in four sets (25-22, 12-25, 25-18, 25-19). The Rebels are the only Mountain West team still participating in postseason play.

RECORDS WERE MADE TO BE BROKEN
- UNLV's 27 victories in 2021 mark the best single-season record in program history.
- Mariena Hayden earned back-to-back MW Player of the Year honors (Spr 2021, fall 2021) for the first time in program history and was selected for the AVCA Pacific South All-Region Team for the second consecutive season, also the first Rebel to earn such honors. Hayden also became the first Rebel in program history to earn a spot on the MW All-Conference team four times in a career (2018, 2019, SPR 2021, Fall 2021). Currently, she leads the nation in aces per set (.67) and in service aces with 82, 13 more than second place. She ranks 18th in the nation for total kills 487, only three away from 17th. She ranks 24th for points per set with 4.96.
- After Thursday's four set match, Lauryn Burt and Arien Fafard are still tied for first in the program's single-season record book for sets played, with each briefly sitting at 136 with the championship match on deck. Kate Brennan now sits in second with 135 sets played, Chloe Thomas sits third overall with 133 sets for the season, Shelby Capllonch has the fourth spot with 131, Jordyn Freeman has fifth (130) and Mariena Hayden is now sixth with 127 sets for the season.
- Kate Brennan earned a spot at the top of the program's record book for season-high hitting efficiency with .380.
- Jordyn Freeman is now fourth in the program's single season record book for total blocks (156) and fifth for assisted blocks (141).
- Brennan, Fafard, Freeman, Burt and Shelby Capllonch are now tied for fifth in the program's single season record book for matches played with 36 each, with the championship match on deck.
- Mariena Hayden knocked her second place 2019 program record for single-season service aces (70) to third with 83 service aces claiming second. Hayden also moved up to fifth in total attempts for a single-season with 1,219 and is now third for kills with 501 in the program's single-season record book.