LAS VEGAS (UNLVrebels.com) – After qualifying as the no. 3 seed in the 2023 Mountain West Volleyball Championship Tournament, the UNLV volleyball team (19-11, 10-8 Mountain West) faced off against the no. 6-seed New Mexico Lobos (19-12, 11-7) in the conference quarterfinal round. After a back-and-forth battle in Cox Pavilion on Wednesday night, the Rebels fell in five sets to end postseason play on a final score of 3-2.
New Mexico rose above with the final line being 24-26, 25-19, 23-25, 25-14, 15-12. UNLV started the game hitting well but trailed off to a final hitting percentage of .178, the Lobos posting a higher rate of .240.
Isabel Martin led the Rebels on the attack, the redshirt senior posting 25 kills on 58 attempts.
Gabrielle Arretche-Ramos was the next-highest student-athlete in kills for the program at 15,
Dakota Quinlan and
Chloe Thomas each holding 11. UNLV totaled a season-high 81 digs in the five-set thriller, four different student-athletes having double-digit marks in the statistical category.
Arien Fafard led the team with 16 of her own,
Isha Knight owning 15 as the program's libero with
Alyssa Muraoka close behind at 14 and Martin with 12. The front-row defense for the Rebels notched 10 block assists during the match, Dakota Quinlin and Arretche-Ramos each earning three to lead the team,
Jordyn Freeman picking up two of her own.
Uxue Guereca led the Lobos on the attack, posting a .366 hitting percentage with 21 kills in the contest. Melissa Walden found 41 assists as the program's main setter, Giselle Groe holding the back row with 16 digs. Kali Wolf picked up four service aces out of the team's 11 in the match, Kaitlynn Biassou owning three of her own.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Fafard's 46 assists helped her eclipse a career milestone on Wednesday night, now owning over 2,000 assists in her UNLV career. The senior ended the match at 2,018 assists overall.
- The last time the Rebels had 80 or more digs in a single match was back in Oct. 13 of the 2022 season, where UNLV picked up 84 digs against Utah State.
- Martin's 58 attack attempts marks a season-high for the German product, the fourth time she's hit .250 or higher in the last five matches.
