MATCH STATS
- #21 Colorado State def. UNLV, 3-0 (25-14, 25-18, 25-19)
- Colorado State improves to 19-2, 9-0 Mountain West; UNLV drops to 7-15, 3-6 Mountain West
- Las Vegas, Nevada
- Attendance: 376
- Box score
LAS VEGAS – Colorado State, ranked #21 in the most recent VolleyMob Power Rankings, earned their eighth conference sweep and 14th sweep overall this season in dominating fashion over UNLV. It was the second time the Rams held UNLV under .100 in hitting, with the Runnin’ Rebels only able to hit .093 on the evening (UNLV hit -.042 earlier this season in Fort Collins). Every statistical aspect went in favor of CSU, including kills (47-26), blocks (10-1), digs (38-27) and aces (4-2). The one block by UNLV was its lowest block number of the season.
Offensively, Colorado State was led in double-figure kills by Breana Runnels with 11 kills and hitting .320 for the match. Joining her in double-figure kills was Paulina Hougaard-Jensen with 10, hitting an impressive .563 (10-1-16). Katie Oleksak paced the highly efficient offense (.385) with 40 assists and had a team- and match-tying-high of 4 blocks. Libero Amanda Young led all defenders with a match-high 13 digs.
UNLV’s lone bright spot was a match-high kill production from Mariena Hayden with 13 to go along with a team-high 7 digs. She only recorded 3 hitting errors for an impressive .400 hitting percentage. It was Hayden’s 15th double-digit kill number on the season. Setter Riley Jacobs had 22 assists to direct the offense to go along with a team-high 2 blocks.
PRESS RELEASES
Courtesy of Colorado State Athletics
LAS VEGAS – The No. 20 Colorado State volleyball team recorded its 14th sweep of the season and eighth in the Mountain West schedule in a clean sheet over UNLV on Thursday night. The Rams have dropped only two sets in conference matches, as it sits atop the MW standings with a 19-2 overall record in a perfect 9-0 mark in loop play.
The Rams once again finished the night with a high hitting mark with a .385 clip, while holding the Rebels to a .093 tally. This is the fourth time this season that CSU has kept its opponent under the .100 threshold – including UNLV for the second time. (Held the Rebels to a -.042 the first time the two matched up).
Breana Runnels and Paulina Hougaard-Jensen led the Rams with double-digit kills with 11 and 10, respectfully. Hougaard-Jensen also finished the night with a .562 hitting mark, having just one error in 16 swings. Colorado State’s defense was also strong in the match, racking up double-digit blocks for the fourth time this season in a three-set match, with 10 blocks. Hougaard-Jensen, Kirstie Hillyer and Katie Oleksak all recorded four stuffs, including Hougaard-Jensen having two solo blocks. Oleksak paced the offense with 40 assists, while Amanda Young and Maddi Foutz reached double-figure digs with 13 and 10, respectfully.
Colorado State held control of the match from the first serve, grabbing a lead in the beginning two sets to gain a 2-0 match lead. In the final set, the Rams worked a 6-1 lead to start, but a 7-3 run during the heart of the set gave UNLV its first lead of the night at 13-12. Both teams traded points before the set was tied at 15-15 and CSU manufactured a 5-0 run to force the Rebels to call a timeout. Colorado State took care of business down the stretch to record the sweep with a 25-19 final-set score.
Courtesy of UNLV Athletics
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – The UNLV volleyball team (7-15, 3-6 MW) suffered a 3-0 loss to the No. 20 Colorado State Rams (19-2, 9-0 MW) at the Cox Pavilion Thursday night. The visitors from Fort Collins, Colorado, won the contest behind set scores of 25-14, 25-18, 25-19 in a match that signaled the end of the first half of Mountain West play for both squads.
CSU outhit UNLV by 292 points (.385 to .093) with help from 21 more kills (47-26) and six fewer errors (12-18) in five more attack attempts (91-86). The Rams, who committed only four errors in each frame, opened the bout with a .452 hitting efficiency and followed it with .321 and .375 efforts in the second and third sets, respectively. The Rebels, on the other hand, were limited to a set-best .118 showing in the third stanza, which came after a .107 in the second and a .042 in the first.
STAT OF THE GAME: CSU had 10.0 total team blocks compared to UNLV’s 1.0 — the Rebels’ lowest output of the season. The Rams’ Paulina Hougaard-Jensen, Kirstie Hillyer and Katie Oleksak combined to have a hand in seven of those total blocks, as they each were involved in four apiece.
REBEL OF THE GAME: Mariena Hayden led the Rebels in both kills and digs with 13 — a match high — and seven, respectively. Additionally, Hayden hit a team-best .400 for the match and added one ace.
QUOTABLE: “We just got outmatched tonight on all fronts,” said head coach Cindy Fredrick. “Colorado State has so many weapons and we didn’t have an answer. Mo (Mariena Hayden) had some really good hits and her back row attacks were very good, but offensively we couldn’t get on track because the serve-receive struggled.”
REBEL NOTES:
*Mariena Hayden has registered double-digit kills in six of her last seven matches, with the help of her 13 against CSU. For the year, Hayden has surpassed kill double figures 15 times.
*Hayden moved two aces away from tying former Rebel Melody Nua (2005) with 33 aces in the program’s single-season record book. To date, Hayden has 31 aces.
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