Utes Head to Provo to Face UNLV in NCAA First Round Action

MATCH 32 \| #22 UTAH (20-11) vs. UNLV (23-7)
DATE/TIME	Friday, Dec. 2 \| 5 p.m. MT
LOCATION	Smith Fieldhouse \| Provo, Utah
STREAM	Campus Insiders (link TBA)
LIVE STATS	Live Stats
SERIES/STREAK	Utah leads 29-4 \| UNLV, Won 1
LAST MATCH	Utah 2, UNLV 3 \| Nov. 13, 2010

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW
• Utah is making its 13th overall NCAA Volleyball Championship appearance and third in the past four seasons. The Utes' last appearance was in 2014.
• Utah (20-11) has won 20 matches in a single season for the third time in the last four years and the 16th time under head coach Beth Launiere.
• Utah finished 11-9 in Pac-12 Conference play, giving the Utes its first-ever winning record in league play since joining the conference in 2011.
• Utah earned an AVCA Top-25 ranking for the eighth straight week and ninth time overall this season. The Utes came in at No. 22 this week.
• Junior outside hitter Adora Anae and junior middle blocker Tawnee Luafalemana were both named to the All-Pac-12 Team this week. Anae took home first team honors, while Luafalemana was an honorable mention selection.

FIRST SERVE
The No. 22-ranked Utah Utes (20-11, 11-9 Pac-12) will make its 13th NCAA Volleyball Championship appearance this Friday, Dec. 2, against the UNLV Rebels (23-7, 12-6) in the BYU Sub-Regional at Smith Fieldhouse in Provo, Utah. First serve between the Utes and Rebels is set for 5 p.m. (MST).

TICKETS
Tickets can be purchased on the BYU ticket website (BYUtickets.com), with full session passes available now, from the $10-$15 price range for both days. Individual day passes will go on sale Friday, Dec. 2, at 9 a.m. MT.

NCAA TOURNAMENT NOTES
• This is Utah's first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2014, but third appearance in the past four seasons.
• The Utes are making its 13th NCAA Tournament appearance (199802006, 2008, 2013-14, 2016) in program history, with all 13 appearances coming under the direction of head coach Beth Launiere.
• In Utah's last NCAA appearance, the Utes defeated Kansas State in straight sets in the first round, but fell to Nebraska in a hard-fought five set thriller.
• Utah is 12-12 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and has a pair of Sweet Sixteen appearances (2001, 2008).
• The Pac-12 Conference will send eight teams to the NCAA Championship this year. All eight teams had RPI rankings at No. 48 or higher.

COVERING THE UTES
Utah's match with UNLV on Friday will be live-streamed via Campus Insiders and TheW.tv. Links to the web-stream can be found at www.UtahUtes.com or www.BYUCougars.com.

Live stats will be provided for Friday's contest, with links found at www.UtahUtes.com or www.StatBroadcast.com.

SCOUTING THE REBELS
UNLV tallied a 23-7 overall record this past season, which included a third-place finish in the Mountain West Conference with a mark of 12-6. UNLV opened the 2016 campaign winning 11 straight and 16 of its first 17 matches. The Rebels wrapped up the regular-season with a 3-1 win over New Mexico, but UNLV has dropped four of its last six matches overall.

The Rebels went 13-2 at home, 7-5 on the road and 3-0 in matches played on a neutral court. The team went 10-4 in three-set matches, 10-2 in four-set matches and 3-1 in five-setters.

UNLV ranked among the top-three teams in the MWC in assists (12.65/set), blocks (2.54), digs (14.74) and kills (13.85). The Rebels hit .236 on the season, which ranked fifth in the MWC.

Bree Hammel leads UNLV with 423 kills (3.85/set) and 40 service aces, while Elsa Descamps has a team-best .312 hitting percentage and 137 total blocks (1.25/set). Carly Riehl leads all UNLV players with 320 digs (2.94/set) on the season.

SERIES HISTORY
Utah leads the all-time series 29-4, but the two teams have not met since both were members of the Mountain West Conference back in 2010. UNLV won the most previous meeting, downing the Utes in five sets back on Nov. 13, 2010.

The Utes and Rebels have never faced each other in the NCAA Tournament and Friday's contest will mark just the third neutral site meeting between the two teams. The Utes won both neutral site meetings with the last win coming back in 2004.

UTES CLINCH FIRST-EVER PAC-12 CONFERENCE WINNING RECORD
With its win over Washington State last Thursday, Utah won its 11th conference match of the season and clinched a winning record in Pac-12 play for the first time since joining the league. Utah's most wins in league play prior to this season had been nine wins, which the team recorded in both 2013 and 2014.

DROP AND GIVE ME 20
The Utes, who tallied a 20-11 record in the regular-season, notched its first 20-win season since 2014 and third 20-win season overall in the past four years. It is Utah's 16th 20-win season under head coach Beth Launiere and the program's 21st 20-win season all-time.

One more victory and the Utes would match the season-high win total of 21 victories since joining the Pac-12. Utah went 21-13 overall back in 2013.

POLL TALK
Utah dropped to No. 22 in this week's AVCA Top-25 poll. Utah's No. 16 ranking a few weeks back was the program's highest polling since joining the Pac-12 Conference in 2011. It also marked Utah's highest ranking since coming in at No. 16 in the final AVCA poll back on Dec. 23, 2008.

Utah has earned a top-25 ranking for eight straight weeks and nine weeks overall on the season. The nine weekly rankings are the program's most in a single season since being ranked all 16 weeks back in 2006.

#ROADWARRIORS
Utah went 10-3 in road matches this season, which set a new mark for most road wins as a program since joining the Pac-12 Conference. The 10 victories also match the most wins for a Utah team on the road since going 10-4 in road matches back in 2008.

#ROADWARRIORS PART II
Utah has tallied a school-record six wins over top-25 ranked teams so far this season. The Utes have defeated No. 9 BYU, No. 16 Colorado, No. 7 Stanford, No. 13 Washington State, No. 24 USC and No. 16 Oregon all on the road this season.

Prior to 2016, Utah had never earned more than two road victories over ranked opponents in the same season. The last time Utah registered a pair of wins against ranked opponents, away from home, was back in 2007 when the Utes downed No. 17 Purdue on the road and defeated No. 20 Colorado State at a neutral site.

UTES IN CONFERENCE PLAY
Utah went 11-9 in Pac-12 Conference play this season, surpassing its original high win total of nine Pac-12 wins the program recorded in both 2013 and 2014 (9-11).

Utah's 11 conference wins are the most since going 11-5 back in 2010 as a member of the Mountain West Conference.

ANAE SETS SINGLE-SEASON KILLS MARK ... AGAIN
Junior Adora Anae set a new school record for most kills in a single season, surpassing the 501 kills that she set just last season. Anae heads into the week with 571 kills on the year. She is the first Utah player to ever-record 500 or more kills in two different seasons.

Anae becomes the first Utah player to register back-to-back 500+ kills in a season. She is the fifth Pac-12 Conference player to do so since the Utes joined the league in 2011. She joins Arizona State's Maci Gardner (577, 2012; 506, 2013; 594, 2014), Washington's Krista Vansant (511, 2013; 565, 2014), Arizona's Madi Kingdon (508, 2013; 34, 2014) and USC's Samantha Bricio (514, 2014; 668, 2015) as the only players to post 500+ kills in consecutive seasons since the league became the Pac-12 Conference.

CLIMBING THE RANKS
In addition to the single-season record she has already set, junior Adora Anae has also found herself among the all-time greats at Utah, as she has moved into fourth-place all-time in school history for most kills in a career. Anae heads into the week with 1,352 kills.

ALL-PAC-12 HONORS
Juniors Adora Anae and Tawnee Luafalemana were both named to the 2016 All-Pac-12 Volleyball Team this week. Anae earned first team honors, while Luafalemana was named an honorable mention selection.

Anae becomes the second Utah player to earn back-to-back All-Pac-12 Conference honors, but is the first player to earn consecutive First Team All-Pac-12 accolades. Erin Redd-Brandon earned honorable mention honors in 2012 and 2013. Anae is the first Utah player to earn consecutive first team honors in any conference affiliation since Karolina Bartkowiak was tabbed a First Team All-Mountain West Conference selection in 2009 and 2010.

This is Anae's second All-Pac-12 Team honor and third overall conference postseason selection after being named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team in 2014.

UP NEXT
A win over UNLV would set-up a second round match against the BYU/Princeton winner. The second round match will be played Saturday, Dec. 3 at Smith Fieldhouse. First serve is set for 7 p.m.

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Utes Head to Provo to Face UNLV in NCAA First Round Action

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Adora Anae

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