UNLV VOLLEYBALL HEADS BACK EAST THIS WEEK
The Rebels, who are receiving votes in the national rankings, will play at Colgate Wednesday, then against Niagara, Cornell and Bucknell in the Cornell Invitational Friday and Saturday
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The defending Mountain West Champion UNLV Volleyball Team (3-2), which is coming off its first win over a Top 25 team in five seasons and continues to receive votes in the national rankings, will head back east this week for four matches.
The Rebels are scheduled to play at Colgate (1-4) on Wednesday, September 8 at 4 p.m. PT, before participating in the Cornell Invitational with matches Friday: vs. Niagara (2-4) at 9 am PT and at Cornell (2-1) at 4 p.m. PT, and Saturday: vs. Bucknell (3-3) at 10 a.m. PT.
All matches will be live streamed and have live stats with links available on the UNLV volleyball schedule page at UNLVRebels.com.
FIRST WIN OVER A RANKED TEAM SINCE 2016: The Rebels are coming off matches against three straight ranked teams: at then-No. 15 BYU, vs. then-No. 8 Purdue and vs. then-No. 25 Washington State. UNLV’s win over Washington State on Saturday marked its first victory over a ranked opponent since defeating then-No. 22 Utah in the NCAA Tournament in 2016.
HAYDEN MOVES UP THE REBEL RECORD BOOK: With her first kill in the Washington State match, Mariena Hayden moved into sole possession of second place in career kills at UNLV. She now has 1,517 in a Rebel uniform, which also made her just the second student-athlete in UNLV history to record 1,500 kills. Maria Aladjova is No. 1 on that list with 1,601 (2004-07).
OTHER NEWS & NOTES:
- UNLV returned nine letterwinners this season including All-American and MW Player of the Year Mariena Hayden, and All-MW First Team performer Kate Brennan.
- Also returning to the squad from last season were Gabrielle Arretche-Ramos, Lauryn Burt, Shelby Capllonch (honorable mention All-MW), Arien Fafard, Jordyn Freeman, Paola Garcia and Paris Oliveira. There are eight newcomers, which include six freshmen and a pair of international student-athletes.
- UNLV is coming off a record-breaking season during the spring that saw the Rebels go undefeated in regular-season play (12-0) and advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Rebels ended the season with a 13-1 overall record, falling to eventual national champion Kentucky.
- UNLV is led by fourth-year head coach Dawn Sullivan, who was honored following the Spring 2021 season with the MW’s Coach of the Year award.
- For the first time in program history, the Rebels were predicted to finish atop the MW volleyball standings by the league’s 11 head coaches as the preseason poll was released in August. Hayden was chosen as the Preseason Conference Player of the Year.
- Dating back to the 2019 campaign, UNLV has won 32 of its last 37 matches.
- Hayden was named Honorable Mention All-America by the AVCA following Spring 2021 after being selected to the organization’s Pacific South All-Region Team. She also was UNLV’s first league Player of the Year in volleyball.
- Hayden entered this season as the NCAA’s active leader in aces (269) and aces per set (.674). Additionally, she sat 12th in total attacks (3,897), 13th in kills (1,484) and 23rd in kills per set (3.72).