OMAHA, Neb. (UNLVRebels.com) – The UNLV volleyball team (13-0) opened its stay at the 2020 NCAA Volleyball Championship with a 3-1 victory in the First Round over the Illinois State (16-6) at the CHI Health Center Omaha Convention Center Wednesday. The Rebels, who won their program-record 13th straight contest, came out on top of the battle of conference champions, as the Mountain West squad defeated the Missouri Valley outfit behind set scores of 25-21, 25-21, 20-25, 25-17.
With the win, the Scarlet & Gray advances to face the Kentucky Wildcats (19-1), the tournament's No. 2 seed and champions of the Southeastern Conference, Thursday at 4:00 pm PT (6:00 pm CT). The match will be streamed live on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.
The Rebels outhit the Redbirds by 34 points (.252 to .218) with help from five more kills (59-54) in five fewer attack attempts (151-156); however, the former did commit one more error (21-20) than the latter. UNLV opened the contest on fire, hitting .406 (15-2-32) in the first and .304 (19-5-46) in the second, but dropped to .083 in it third-set loss (12-9-36). They rebounded in the fourth with a .216 effort (13-5-57). Illinois State, on the other hand, began the bout with its best hitting display - .351 (16-3-37), but followed with .182 (13-5-44), .270 (15-5-37) and .079 (10-7-38) averages from the second through fourth frames, respectively.
UNLV also owned advantages in assists (52-47), aces (6-0) and digs (69-55), but Illinois State held an 8-6 edge in total team blocks.
Setter
Arien Fafard registered her third double-double of the season, combining 25 assists and 13 digs for the feat. Fafard also had three kills and one ace. Fellow setter
Lauryn Burt added 22 assists, three digs, two aces and one kill.
The Rebel offense had a quartet throw down eight or more kills in the triumph.
Mariena Hayden, the recently named MW Player of the Year and AVCA Pacific South All-Region Team selection, led the foursome with 17 kills to go along with nine digs, two assisted blocks, two aces and one assist.
Erin Davis tied a season high with 11 kills, while
Kate Brennan and
Shelby Capllonch had nine and eight, respectively.
In addition to Fafard and Hayden's dig totals, Capllonch chipped in a match-high 24 digs and libero
Paris Oliveira had 13.
Illinois State's Kaylee Martin (14 kills and 15 digs) and Sarah Kushner (10 kills and digs) had double-doubles, while teammate Sydney Holt added 10 kills and Stef Jankiewicz had a match-high 43 assists.
NOTES:
-Dating back to the 2019 campaign, UNLV has now won 29 of its last 31 matches – the best run through 31 matches in program history.
-UNLV improved to 2-3 all-time in the NCAA Volleyball Championship play, having previously participated in 2007, 2016 and 2020 (2021). Prior to Wednesday's win, the Rebels' lone win was a 3-1 upset of No. 22 Utah in Provo, Utah, on Dec. 2, 2016.
-UNLV will be making its second trip to the NCAA Tournament's Second Round, having lost 3-0 to No. 10 BYU in Provo, Utah, on Dec. 3, 2016.
-In all, UNLV is now 6-4 all-time in postseason play, going 2-2 in the NCAA Tournament and 4-2 in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship the past two years (2018: 3-1 and 2019: 1-1).
-UNLV's streak of playing only to three sets was snapped Wednesday, as Illinois State forced a fourth frame after winning the third. The Rebels had won the previous four in sweeping fashion.
-UNLV improved to 13-0 in both categories when it owns a higher hitting percentage and has more kills, and 3-0 when it has more errors and 6-0 when it has fewer attack attempts in a match.
