LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – The UNLV women's swimming and diving team won 12 of 16 events Saturday to earn the head-to-head dual victory over in-state rival UNR for the second straight season by a final score of 167-128 at Jim Reitz Pool and Northern Arizona's Aquatics Center. With the win, the Rebels will clinch at least a tie of the three points in the Silver State Series presented by IBEW Local 401 and Nevada Donor Network.
REBELS OF THE MEET:
*Senior
Kristina Schneider finished as the overall points leader (22 points) behind her 100 free and 200 free victories and second-place finish in the 50 free (23.94).
*Notching her own pair of Scarlet and Gray first-place finishes in a sweep of the distance events, senior
Teneka Ash tied for the second highest point total (18 points) with her 500 free (5:02.56) and 1000 free (10:17.10) wins.
*Sophomore
Blanka Bokros chimed in with a sweep of the 100 fly (55.72) and 200 fly (2:02.46) for the second straight meet to also land in a tie for the second most points on the day.
THE RUNDOWN:
*The UNLV 'A' quartet of super senior Kate Afanasyeva, sophomore
Calysta Bartlett, sophomore
Blanka Bokros and Schneider (3:42.44) jumped out to a quick start in the 400 medley relay for the first Scarlet and Gray win of the day.
*Senior
Julia Filippova made it a 1-2 Rebel finish in Ash's 1000 free, finishing second with a time of 10:21.50.
*Immediately after Schneider's 200 free win, Afanasyeva notched her fifth 100 back victory of the season with a mark of 55.73. Joining in on the Rebel scoring in the event, seniors
Kacey Kiuchi (58.19) and
Lindsay Swail (58.67) tagged in third and fourth place, respectively.
*In the 200 fly, Bokros' win paced another UNLV top-2 takeover which also saw senior
Carissa Armijo (2:05.31) come in second. Freshman
Cameron Mykkanen (2:09.66) provided additional scoring in the race with a fourth-place finish.
*The Rebels completed the first of its two 1-2-3 event sweeps in the 50 free, as
Malia Fernandez won with a time of 23.70. She was followed by Schneider in second and freshman
Pilar Cohen (24.11) in third place.
*Moments later, Schneider, senior
Ava Haase (52.24) and Fernandez (52.26) snagged the second Scarlet and Gray sweep in the 100 free as they finished first, second and third, respectively. In spite of not counting in the official scoring, junior
Alexia Taylor-Arredondo (52.81) swam the fourth fastest time among all 100 free competitors.
*Senior
Kacey Kiuchi kept the momentum going in the 200 back, reaching the wall first with a time of 2:04.57. Contributing to the UNLV scoring, Mykkanen (2:08.41) finished in third place and Swail (2:09.19) placed fourth.
*After Ash's and Bokros' second victories of the day in their respective 500 free and 100 fly races, sophomore
Ruby Howell (2:07.05) rounded out the individual victories with a first-place finish in the 200 IM.
*Closing the contest strong in the 200 free relay, Afanasyeva, Cohen, Fernandez and Haase gave the Scarlet and Gray's 'A' squad (1:33.70) the final event triumph of the contest.
*Leading the way on the diving side, sophomore
Vika Yanovska posted five points to the Rebels' final score tally as she finished third in the 1-meter (277.20) and fourth in the 3-meter (298.28)
QUOTABLE: "Racing Reno always brings out the best in us, and we really appreciate the long-standing rivalry we have with them. We had some really sharp relay swims today that set a high bar for the next four weeks. It's important that we use each meet ahead as a tool to help us calibrate what we need to calibrate before heading to the Mountain West meet. That will be our objective as we go through these next two weeks of competition." -Head coach
Ben Loorz
NEXT UP: The Rebels will remain home for one final meet next week as they host Senior Weekend vs. Hawai'i and Wyoming on Friday, Jan. 28, through Saturday, Jan. 29.