OREM, Utah – The Utah Valley University volleyball team dropped a 3-1 decision to UNLV in the opener of the UVU/BYU Challenge on Friday afternoon in the UCCU Center in Orem (17-25, 30-28, 12-25, 12-25).
 
With the win the Rebels of the Mountain West Conference, who are currently receiving votes for the top 25 poll, remain unbeaten on the season and improve to 10-0. UVU falls to 4-8 with the loss.
 
"I really didn't expect for us to kind of fall apart there in those last two sets. We had the momentum but just kind of struggled coming out of the break and lost it," head coach Sam Atoa said. " Overall we had a hard time of finding ways to side out as well as with our passing."
 
The Rebels, who are off to their best start in program history, were the first to get things going in the opening set as they jumped out to an 11-6 advantage following a 3-0 spurt. With UNLV later holding to a 15-10 lead, Utah Valley responded with a 4-0 run to pull within a point at 15-14. The Rebels struck back by scoring seven of the next nine points to extend their lead to 22-16. UNLV went on to take the opener a few points later at 25-17.
 
The Wolverines responded early in the second set as they took an 8-5 lead following an Izzie Hinton kill. UNLV chipped away at the deficit from there and later took 13-11 of its own following a 5-0 run. UVU answered right back with a 6-1 run to regain the lead at 17-14. Kiahna Vernon led the rally for the Wolverines with a pair of kills. Following a UNLV point, Utah Valley continued to hold the upper hand by driving home four straight points to extend its lead to 21-15. The Rebels then managed to reel off a big run to pull to within one at 22-21, but back answered UVU by scoring two of the next three points to take a 24-22 set-point advantage. UNLV then countered back once again with back-to-back points to tie the score at 24-all. The score then seesawed back and forth from there until UVU managed to drive home a pair of crucial consecutive points to take the marathon set at 30-28. Vernon paced the Wolverines in the set with eight kills and two blocks.
 
Following the intermission break, the Rebels bounced right back by jumping out to a quick 9-1 lead in the third game. UNLV added to its lead from there as it went on to take a commanding 16-2 advantage. UVU responded with a couple of 3-1 runs but it wasn't enough, as UNLV went on to take the third set, 25-12, and a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
After trading points early with the Rebels in the fourth game, UNLV was the first to pull ahead as it took a 13-6 lead following a 6-1 run. The Rebels later stretched their lead to nine, at 18-9, but back came UVU with back-to-back points to make it 18-11. UNLV then got hot once again by scoring seven of the next eight points to put the set and the match away.
 
Despite suffering the defeat, Vernon led all players with a match-high 16 kills in the contest. She also added six digs and a pair blocks. Lexi Thompson was next for UVU in kills with six, while Brighton Taylor chipped in five kills of her own and a team-high six blocks. Sierra Starley too added her second double-double of the season with 37 assists and 13 digs and Nakisha Willden tallied a match-high 26 digs.
 
The Wolverines will conclude the weekend tournament by hosting CSUN of the Big West Conference on Saturday at 5 p.m. in the UCCU Center. The match will be a part of Utah Valley's Homecoming festivities and will prelude No. 19 UVU men's soccer's 7 p.m. contest against CSUN at Utah Valley's Clyde Field. 
 
"We have no time to really think about some of the challenges that we went through in this match. So the best thing for us to do is to get ourselves back on the court tomorrow and try to improve on some of these areas that we seemed to struggle with," Atoa added. "We'll come out and be ready to go against CSUN on Saturday."