LOGAN, Utah (UNLVRebels.com) – The UNLV volleyball team (7-0) remained perfect on the year with its 3-0 sweep of the Utah State Aggies (1-6) at the Wayne Estes Center Thursday. The Rebels claimed the Mountain West contest behind set scores of 25-20, 25-19, 25-16.
UNLV outhit the USU by 116 points (.308-.192) backed by three more kills (38-35) and five fewer errors (10-15) in 13 fewer attack attempts (91-104). Delving deeper, the Rebels hit between .296 (second set) and .314 (third) throughout the match, while the Aggies saw their hitting figures drop set by set, going from .281 to .206 to .105, as the kills decreased (13-12-10) and errors increased (4-5-6) from the first to the third, as well.
UNLV was paced offensively by the trio of
Mariena Hayden,
Macy Smith and
Thea Sweder who hit .368 and combined for 25 of the squad's 38 kills. Smith led all Rebels with nine kills off an impressive .533 efficiency to go along with three assisted blocks and two digs. Hayden fell short of a double-double, as she compiled eight kills and nine digs, and added four aces and two assisted blocks. Sweder hit .438 with eight kills and chipped in one assist, three total blocks (one solo) and one dig.
Rebel setters
Arien Fafard and
Lauryn Burt had 17 and 16 assists, respectively, while the former had eight digs to the latter's two.
REBEL NOTES:
-Dating back to the 2019 campaign, UNLV has won 23 of its last 25 matches – the best run through 25 matches in program history.
-Dating back to the 2019 campaign, UNLV has won 13 straight and 22 of its last 23 Mountain West matches.
-With the win, UNLV improved to 7-0 for only the third time in program history: 1999, 2016 and Spring 2021.
-With the win, UNLV, which is playing a conference-only regular season, upped its program-best start to any conference campaign in program history to 7-0.
-With the win, UNLV has beaten Utah State four straight times and 10 of the last 12 matches, and upped its lead in the head-to-head series to eight matches at 12-4.
-With help from her eight kills, Hayden now has 1,377 for her career, and is only 123 from tying Lauren Miramontes' 1,499 (2003-07) for second all-time in the program's record book.
-With the addition of her 26 attack attempts, Hayden now has 3,692 for her career, and is 246 from tying Leiana Oswald's 3,938 (2000-03) for second all-time in the program's record book.
UP NEXT: UNLV and Utah State will serve it up, once more, Saturday afternoon to close out the two-match, Mountain West series in Logan. First serve between the Rebels and Aggies is scheduled for 1:00 pm MT (12:00 pm PT) at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
