OMAHA, Neb. (UNLVRebels.com) – The UNLV volleyball team (13-1) was on the wrong end of a 3-0 decision in its NCAA Volleyball Championship Second Round match Thursday evening at the CHI Health Center Omaha. The Rebels suffered their first and only loss of the season – 16-25, 19-25, 18-25 – to the No. 2 seed Kentucky Wildcats (20-1), who move on to Sunday's Regional Semifinals against either No. 15 seed Washington State or Western Kentucky.
The Rebels were led by
Mariena Hayden's match-high 19 kills in the contest, which came off an impressive .467 (19-5-30) hitting performance. Hayden began the tilt with three kills in the opening set, but had 10 in the second and six more in the third. She also added six digs and two assisted blocks.
Erin Davis (four kills),
Kate Brennan (three) and
Thea Sweder (two) combined for nine kills.
Setters
Arien Fafard and
Lauryn Burt dished out 16 and 13 assists, respectively.
The Wildcats outhit the Rebels by .228 points (.468 to .240) with an edge in kills (50-30) and only one more error (13-12) with a slight advantage in attack attempts (79-75). Kentucky hit .417 or better in all three sets, topping out with a .500 (18-5-26) in the third and final frame. UNLV steadily improved as the match went on, opening with a .167 average (6-2-24) and bumping up to a .250 (12-6-24) and .296 (12-4-27) in the second and third sets, respectively.
Kentucky had a trio of attackers register double digits in kills, with Madi Skinner and Avery Skinner recording 11 apiece, while Alli Stumler had 10. Maddison Lilley led the Wildcats in assists (44), while Gabby Curry was tops in digs (10).
NOTES:
-Dating back to the 2019 campaign, UNLV has now gone 29-3 in its last 32 matches.
-UNLV moved to 2-4 all-time in the NCAA Volleyball Championship, having played in the 2007, 2016 and 2020 tournaments.
-In all, UNLV is now 6-5 all-time in postseason play, going 2-3 in the NCAA Tournament and 4-2 in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship the previous two years.
-With the loss, UNLV had its program-best 13-match win streak snapped.
