SAN JOSE, Calif. (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV volleyball squad (6-5, 0-1 MW) and the San Jose State Spartans (6-6, 1-0 MW) kicked off their Mountain West campaigns with a hard-fought, five-set match at Spartan Gym Thursday night. Unfortunately, it was the host Spartans that came out victorious after each team exchanged sets in the contest that was decided by set scores of 24-26, 27-25, 20-25, 27-25, 10-15.

San Jose State outhit UNLV by 94 points (.78 to .072), and threw down seven more kills (58-51) and also committed seven more errors (38-31) in nine more attack attempts (166-157). The Spartans had their best hitting efforts in the third and fifth frames with .294 and .211 efforts, the former of which was helped by 13 kills and just three errors in 39 swings. SJSU, however, was limited to .091 to .191 hitting displays between the first and second stanzas. UNLV topped out with a .179 showing in the second and also hit .167 in the third, but hit below .100 in the fourth and fifth.

THE TURNING POINT: UNLV's -.0263 hitting percentage in the final frame was all San Jose State needed to spark a 5-0 opening run and they never looked back. The Scarlet & Gray tallied just two kills in 19 total attacks in the fifth set.

NOTABLE STATS: UNLV's Jaida Harris led the team with 16 along with eight digs, while Alondra Alarocn joined the double-digit kill column with 10 of her own. Caleigh King registered a team-high 13 digs, Kaia Thiele posted 22 assists and garnered seven blocks (four solo blocks, three block assists).