Match Stats
- UNLV defeats New Mexico 3-1 (25-13, 25-23, 20-25, 25-21)
- UNLV improves to 23-7
- New Mexico drops to 16-16
The UNLV Rebels won their final match of the season, 3-1 at home against New Mexico. They’ll now have to wait to find out if they’ll earn an NCAA tournament bid this weekend.
We had UNLV as one of our last 8 teams into the tournament earlier this week. Alexis Patterson gave the Rebels the biggest NCAA push possible, hitting a double double on Tuesday night with 12 digs and 10 kills at .412 hitting percentage. Elsa Descamps and Elisa Woinowsky each had double doubles as well.
New Mexico’s Devanne Sours had 17 kills and hit her career-milestone 1000th kill in the last match of her storied career.
Press Releases
UNLV:
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – The UNLV volleyball team completed regular-season and Mountain West play with a 3-1 victory over the New Mexico Lobos Tuesday night at the Cox Pavilion. The Rebels, who improved to 23-7 overall and 12-6 in the MW, got a triple-double from Alexis Patterson and double-doubles from their international connection, Elsa Descamps and Elisa Woinowsky in the win. The Scarlet & Gray claimed the affair behind set scores of 25-15, 25-23, 20-25, 25-21.
This is the third instance that UNLV has concluded a regular season with 23 wins (1984 and 1998), and it’s the third-best win total in program history. The 23 victories only trail the 26 tallied by the 2016 squad and 2007’s 24.
With a combination of Tuesday’s Rebel win and a loss by Wyoming in its Border War contest with Colorado State, UNLV finished league play in sole possession of third place. Boise State (16-2), which had already sewn up the MW’s automatic bid to the 2016 NCAA Tournament, won the Conference title outright with its 3-0 sweep of Air Force. Colorado State (15-3) took second while Wyoming (11-7) was one spot back of UNLV in fourth.
The Rebels entered the week No. 32 in the RPI, and now the team must wait to see if the NCAA committee will come calling with an at-large bid to postseason play. ESPNU will air the tournament’s selection show Sunday at 6:00 pm PT.
“This was just an incredible match,” said head coach Cindy Fredrick, the winningest coach in program history. “I’m so proud of Alexis — getting a triple-double is remarkable — she ran her offense perfectly tonight. Elsa hit and blocked so well — and for a double-double! It’s not easy for a libero to get a double-double so huge kudos to Elisa tonight. All of our hitters came through, and Caitlin (Wernentin) did a great job. Bree’s (Hammel) front and back row attacks were on the money. You have to credit Ashley (Owens), as well, for a really strong front row. It was just a very good team effort for a solid win tonight!”
Patterson’s triple-double came from a compilation of 37 assists, 12 digs and 10 kills, which were a career high. She also hit at a .412 clip with only three errors in 17 total swings, and added two assisted blocks.
In a bit of irony, Patterson accomplished the feat in front of the last two members of the program to achieve the feat, and they were teammate Bree Hammel and alumna Nicki King, who was in the crowd. Hammel recorded her triple-double last year with 16 kills, 12 digs and 10 blocks against Green Bay on September 4 at a tournament in Manhattan, Kansas. King’s occurred in 2004 against Wyoming (58 assists, 12 digs and 11 kills).
Descamps, who had one assist and one dig, combined 10 kills and 11 total blocks (one solo) for her first career double-double while Woinowsky paired career highs in both digs (19) and assists (11) for her first as a Rebel.
Bree Hammel and Caitlin Wernentin led the Rebel attack with 15 and 12 kills, respectively. The former also added seven digs and five assisted blocks to the latter’s two digs and two assisted blocks.
In all, UNLV had six players register a minimum of six kills as Sadie Stutzman chipped in nine and Ashley Owens had six of her own. Stuzman had a hand in four assisted blocks, two digs and one assist. Owens was involved in four total blocks, one of which was of the solo variety.
Besides Woinowsky and Patterson’s dig tallies, the team also got eight more from Laura Butler, who also aced three serves.
For the match, UNLV outhit UNM by 143 points (.296 to .153) with an edge of 15 more kills (62-46) in only five more swings (142-137) and five fewer errors (20-25). The Rebels opened the bout with a staggering .600 hitting display that consisted of 15 kills against no errors in 25 attack attempts. The hosts followed with a .395 effort (20-5-38) in the second; however, they only managed .146 and .158 clips in the third and fourth stanzas, respectively. The Lobos, on the other hand, topped out with a .258 average in the second, but were held to a range of .000 (fourth) to .229 (third) the rest of the affair.
Devanne Sours and Julia Warren paced the visitors from Albuquerque, New Mexico, with 17 and 13 kills, respectively. Lise Rugland dished out a match-high 39 assists while teammate Ashley Kelsey topped all participants with 22 digs.
NOTES: UNLV’s 23-7 record this season translates to a .767 winning percentage, which is the third best in program history, and it only trails 2014’s .800 (24-6) and 2016’s .788 (26-7) efforts … UNLV’s 12 conference wins are tied for the second most in program history, and they sit even with 12 from 2007, but trail 2014’s 14 … In the program’s career record book, Descamps moved into second all-time in hitting efficiency (.292) and Hammel improved to third in assisted blocks (334) … In the single-season record book, Hammel moved into fifth in both kills (423) and total attempts (1,127); Patterson claimed seventh in assists (1,183) and jumped her previous best and now eighth-place 1,171 assists from 2014; and Descamps moved into ties for fourth in assisted blocks (126) and fifth in total blocks (137).
New Mexico:
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — It wasn’t the ending the team might have wanted, but in a season where players reached milestone after milestone, it was appropriate that the Lobos capped the year with one more.
Senior outside hitter Devanne Sours notched a game-high 17 kills to reach 1,000 career kills in her final career match as the University of New Mexico volleyball team battled UNLV on Tuesday in a pitched contest in the Cox Pavilion.
Behind solid performances from their senior pinhitters, the Lobos (16-16, 6-12 Mountain West) gave the Rebels (23-7, 12-6) a run for their money in Sin City, falling 25-15, 25-23, 20-25, 25-21 in their season finale.
New Mexico finishes the 2016 season with a 16-16 record for their ninth season at .500 or better under 10th-year head coach Jeff Nelson.
Sours was one of a number of highlights for the Lobos Tuesday night, becoming the fourth player this season to reach the 1,000 mark in a statistical category.
Julia Warren was the first Lobo to achieve this milestone, reaching 1,000 career digs in September, followed by Cassie House‘s 1,000th career kill in October and Ashley Kelsey‘s 1,000th career dig last week.
Sours is the 13th player in UNM history to reach 1,000 career kills.
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Sours’ 17 kills also paced the Lobos’ attack in the team’s finale, with Warren (13 kills), House (eight) and Victoria Spragg (six) also contributing.
Lise Rugland dished out a game-best 39 assists to key New Mexico’s offense. The Lobos finished with a .153 hitting percentage, registering 46 kills and 25 errors on 137 attempts.
New Mexico serving was a strong point, as Rugland and Sours tallied two aces apiece to give UNM a 5-3 advantage in aces. The Lobos also only had five service errors to UNLV’s 12.
Defensively, Kelsey collected a game-best 22 digs, while Warren chipped in nine and Rugland six. House and Spragg both logged four blocks each.
UNLV won the battle at the net, however, with 15 total blocks to UNM’s seven.
The match opened with the Rebels taking an 8-3 lead, but the Lobos responded with six of the next nine points to draw to within two at 11-9. UNLV, however, would post a 4-0 run to extend its lead to six points at 15-9.
UNM would cut the Rebels’ margin to five points at 16-11, but the Lobos wouldn’t be able to score multiple consecutive points for the rest of the set, falling 25-15 in the opening stanza. Sours and Warren each posted three kills in the set as the Lobos hit .167 (11 kills, six errors, 30 attacks).
Set two was a much closer affair, with 12 ties throughout the frame. New Mexico would claim an early lead a 3-1, but UNLV would go ahead 4-3 after a 3-0 spurt. Neither team would gain more than a two-point advantage until late about midway through the set, when the Rebels tallied an 8-1 run to break a 14-14 tie and take a 21-15 lead.
The Lobos would answer with a 7-2 surge late to make it 24-23, staving off two set points in the process, before UNLV captured the set 25-23.
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| Devanne Sours |
New Mexico had its best set in the second, as Sours’ four kills carried the Lobos to a .258 hitting percentage (12-4-31). However, UNLV hit .395 (20-5-38) en route to winning.
Coming out of intermission, the Lobos continued to play well, racing to a 7-4 lead behind four UNLV errors. UNLV would come to within two points at 9-7 and 10-8, but UNM gained some separation via a 6-3 run.
Up 16-11, the Lobos’ pinhitters began to work, notching seven of the team’s final nine points as UNM seized the third set 25-20. New Mexico hit .229 (13-5-35) in the set and limited the Rebels to just a .146 rate (13-7-41).
Looking to keep up the comeback, New Mexico charged into the fourth set, but was met by a quick 7-2 lead for UNLV. The Lobos battled back to 7-6 via a 4-0 run before both teams traded 3-0 spurts to make the score 10-6 in favor of UNLV.
New Mexico did take the lead at 12-11 after three Sours’ kills fueled a 6-1 run, but the Rebels came back with a 5-1 run to claim an 18-15 lead that they would not relinquish.
UNM stayed within two points in the waning moments of the set, relying on two more Sours’ kills — including her 1000th to make it 23-21 UNLV — but the Rebels eventually won the set 25-21.
Sours posted six kills in the fourth frame, but the Lobos hit .000 (10-10-41).
With indoor volleyball now concluded, a portion of the indoor team will transition over to the beach volleyball team, with competition slated to begin in the spring.
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