LAS VEGAS – The UNLV Rebels defeated Nevada 3-0 in Las Vegas Saturday afternoon, the second match of the season in the Silver State Series presented by America First Credit Union. The squads will split the series, as the Wolf Pack move to 7-18 overall and 3-11 in Mountain West play.
 
Gabby McLaughlin highlighted Nevada's match in Las Vegas. McLaughlin reached 500 career kills totaling 15 on the day, including a .342 hitting percentage, six digs, and 15 points. Her 15 points allowed her to reach 600 career points. Jaclyn Sanchez earned 250 career assists after tallying seven total in the match. Jordan Schwartz saw 200 career block assists, recording five on the afternoon. Schwartz also totaled 2.5 total blocks, which now puts her at 10^th all-time at Nevada in total blocks with 243.5. Hikialani Kaohelaulii registered 12 digs, putting her at ninth all-time in single season digs.
 
The Rebels lead the overall series 30-10. The last time Nevada pulled off the win in Las Vegas was in 2017, winning 3-1 in Cox Pavilion. This season, the Wolf Pack took UNLV in a five-set thriller 3-2 at Virginia Street Gym three weeks ago. Nicanora Clarke highlighted the Nevada offense with 18 kills.
 
Nevada kicked things off earning the first two points with an attack error on the Rebels and a service ace by King, her fifth of the season. UNLV answered back with four points of their own on a 4-0 scoring run to go up 4-2 over the Pack. Before the media timeout, it was all UNLV as they continued to extend their lead 15-11 over Nevada to reach the halfway point. The Rebels' Gabrielle Ramos-Arretche contributed to the lead with three kills along with one kill from Jordyn Freeman. Nevada came tied things up at 16-16 after back-to-back kills from McLaughlin, reaching her sixth of the match, and a block from Schwartz and Maeva, but the Rebels came back firing to regain the lead 19-16, with two kills from Isabel Martin and a service ace by Isha Knight. With her sixth kill of the set, UNLV's Martin secured another point for the Rebels, reaching the 20-point benchmark to lead by three points, 21-18. Nevada's Koen Makaula earned her first kill of the match, followed shortly after by an attack error from UNLV, allowed the Pack to come within two points of the Rebels 22-20 lead. Nevada was able to come within one point for the second time of the set, but a kill from Arretche-Ramos put UNLV one-point away from winning the set. An attack error by Nevada's Maeva ended the set, with the Rebels coming out on top 25-22.
 
UNLV came out in the second set with a 6-1 lead over Nevada, with kills from Freeman and Chloe Thomas, a service ace by Livvy Setla, and three attack errors called on the Wolf Pack. The Wolf Pack tried to battle back but were only able to come within five points at the media timeout, with the Rebels leading 15-10. Both squads traded two points each, bringing the score to 17-12, but UNLV scored two more points from back-to-back kills from Dakota Quinlan, coming just shy of the 20-point landmark. Nevada called their second timeout of the set after UNLV extended their lead to eight, the largest of the match so far for either side, with the score sitting in the Rebels favor, 20-12. McLaughlin secured two kills in a row to help the Pack come within five, but UNLV continued to put up a dominant performance to finish out the set 25-17, taking a 2-0 lead over Nevada.
 
The third set saw both teams trading points early before Nevada took a 8-4 lead over the Rebels, earning points after two attack errors by UNLV and two kills in a row from Hannah Platt and McLaughlin. The Rebels went on a 3-0 scoring run to come within one point to shorten the Pack's lead 8-7. A 4-0 scoring run for UNLV allowed them to go up by one over Nevada 11-10 before both squads traded points to tie the match 13-13. The Rebels took control, scoring three more to lead 17-14 in result of two attack errors called on Nevada and Arretche-Ramos's 13th kill of the match. UNLV forced Nevada to call timeout after another three points gave the Rebels a four-point lead with the score sitting at 20-16. UNLV came within two of reaching set point, but the Wolf Pack put three more on the board to shorten the Rebels' lead 22-20. Arretche-Ramos secured her 15^th kill of the match to put UNLV one point away from earning the match victory, but Nevada called their final timeout of the set to come up with a game plan to keep the set alive. Coming back from the timeout, Platt earned her sixth kill of the set to come within three points of the 24-21 UNLV lead, but a clutch kill from Freeman gave the Rebels the 25-21 set victory to secure the match 3-0 over Nevada.
 
Up Next:
Nevada will travel to Colorado Springs to take on the Air Force Falcons Thursday, November 9, followed by wrapping their four-match road stretch in Albuquerque against the New Mexico Lobos Saturday, November 11.