LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – The UNLV volleyball team swept the San Jose State Spartans, 3-0, at the Cox Pavilion Saturday night to remain undefeated through seven weeks of the Spring 2021 season. The Rebels, who improved to 9-0, knocked off the Spartans (4-8) behind set scores of 25-17, 25-22, 25-16.
With help from her first kill in the match,
Mariena Hayden became only the third Rebel in program history to record 1,400 career kills. Hayden, who was the lone player in the contest to record double-digit kills with 16, joins Maria Aladjova (1,601 kills / 2004-07) and Lauren Miramontes (1,499 / 2003-07) in the exclusive club.
Just one day after posting a .321 hitting efficiency in Friday's 3-1 victory over SJSU, UNLV notched its best effort of the season Saturday with a .407 average backed by 44 kills off a season-low seven errors in 91 attack attempts. The Rebels hit .353 or better in all three frames, topping out with a .458 clip (13-2-24) in the third. They committed only one error in the opening set, with 15 kills in 33 swings for a .424 average.
The Spartans, meanwhile, were held to a .207 average (33-15-87), as they slowly improved offensively in each subsequent set. SJSU began the bout hitting .176 before .200 and .250 efforts in the second and third, respectively.
Besides Hayden's 16 kills off .500 hitting (16-2-28), the Rebels had four others hit .333 or higher with a minimum of five kills.
Macy Smith paced the quartet hitting .556 (five kills) and was followed by
Kate Brennan (.444/five),
Shelby Capllonch (.400/six) and
Erin Davis (.333/five).
NOTES:
-Dating back to the 2019 campaign, UNLV has now won 25 of its last 27 matches – the best run through 27 matches in program history.
-With Saturday's win, UNLV improved to 9-0 for only the second time in program history, joining the 2016 squad which started that season 11-0.
-UNLV improved to 14-7 in the head-to-head series against SJSU, winning six straight and 13 of the last 14 matches.
UP NEXT: The Rebels hit the road next week with matches in Fresno, California, and Reno. UNLV will face Fresno State Thursday (5:00 pm) before it heads back to the northern portion of the Silver State to face UNR Saturday (1:00 pm).
