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The University of Utah Athletics
Volleyball Falls to UNLV in WAC Tournament
6/21/1999 12:00 AM | Volleyball
November 26, 1998
LAS VEGAS, Nev. - For the third year in a row, Utah bowed out in the quarterfinal round of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament, losing to a hot UNLV team Wednesday afternoon 16-14, 15-12, 15-9 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Sara Shakula led the Utes with 11 kills, a .250 hitting percentage and two aces. Stacie Greenwalt had nine kills with a .238 hitting percentage and six blocks. Brook Barton had a match-high 11 digs and six kills.
The Utes' star performer, Kalani Tonga, who had played so brilliantly against TCU on Tuesday, was shut down by the Rebels. Tonga hit for .152 with just six kills and 11 errors in 33 attempts.
UNLV, which beat Colorado State and Wyoming last week to earn the WAC Mountain Division's No. 2 seed in the tournament, continued its excellent late-season run against Utah. The Rebels, improving to 23-7, outblocked the Utes 15 to eight and outhit them .192 to .140. Angie Sylvas led the way with a match-high 13 kills. Christel Eves had nine kills and eight blocks.
Utah was slow out of the gates, falling behind 12-2 in the first game. However, Utah came back with a 12-1 run, keyed by five kills from Barton, and was serving for a game point at 14-3. A lift by setter Graciela Torres made the score 15-14 in favor of UNLV. Sylvas came through with the kill for game point.
Mistakes plagued the Utes in game two and three. The Rebels scored 10 points off Utah errors in the second game and got seven points off of blocks in the third game.
"I have to give them credit," said Ute head coach Beth Launiere of UNLV. "They were aggressive from the start and did all of the things they needed to do to beat us. But at the same time, I didn't think that we played well in certain areas and certain individuals didn't do what they needed to do for us to win. We all took turns in that. I think we shot ourselves in the foot all night. It seemed like every time we got some momentum going, we made a mistake."
The Utes, now 20-9, will await word on an NCAA Tournament berth on Sunday.
"I think we deserve to go to the tournament," said Launiere. "I don't think losses in post-season tournaments should hurt you that much. We've had a great season, getting 20 wins against a very tough schedule. We also have some good wins over some quality teams, and played in what I think was the toughest division in the WAC this year."
The NCAA will announce its expanded 64-team tournament field Sunday at 6:30 p.m. (MST).
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