Air Force Academy
UNLV
Falcons Drop 3-1 Road Contest to UNLV
10/10/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Despite a career-high 20 kills from freshman Shelley Spires, the Air Force volleyball team dropped a tough 3-1 contest to UNLV this evening (Oct. 9) in Las Vegas. After winning the opening set by a 25-21 score, the Falcons fell in consecutive 14-25, 21-25, 22-25 sets to move to 9-10 on the year and 3-2 in conference play.
Spires notched the first 20-kill match of her young career, while hitting at a team-leading clip of .432 (20k-4e-37a). Junior Akokwe Clement also accounted for a double-digit kill total with 13, while classmate Maggie Sherrill added nine. Junior Rebecca Bates led the team with 16 digs, while seniors Hillary Keltner and Emma Dridge added 12 and 11, respectively. Keltner, who recorded 44 assists on the night, recorded the 33rd double-double of her career. Spires (one solo, one assisted), junior Taylor Parker (one solo, one assisted) and classmate Raquel Rosas (two assisted) all tallied a pair of blocks, while Rosas and fellow junior Rachael Bradley Powers each notched a service ace.
Spires recorded the Falcons' first two kills, but the Rebels took an early 7-4 advantage. Spires added another kill and recorded a solo block, as Air Force evened the score at 10. A kill by Clement and a service ace by Rosas on back-to-back points gave Air Force the lead at the 12-11 mark, while three combined kills from Spires (two) and Parker helped the Falcons extend their advantage to two (15-13). UNLV evened the score at 17, while kills from Rosas (17-16) and Sherrill (18-17) tipped the advantage to Air Force. After a block by Clement and Rosas evened the set at 19, Spires recorded two kills and assisted on a block with Parker, as the Falcons claimed the first set by a 25-21 margin.
Clement struck first in the second set with a pair of kills, while a solo block and kill from Parker gave the Falcons a 4-3 lead. Air Force extended its lead to three (7-5) following a solo block from Sherrill and a pair of kills from Clement and Keltner. The Rebels rolled off five straight points to take its own three-point lead (10-7), before the Falcons pulled within one (11-10) off of kills from Rosas, Sherrill and Clement. Spires added four kills - the Falcons' only points during a game-ending 14-4 run by UNLV - as the Rebels evened the match with a 25-14 set victory.
A kill from Spires and a service ace from Bradley Powers helped Air Force take an early 4-3 lead to start the third set. A kill by Sherrill evened the score at five, while another strike by the junior broke up a 6-1 run by the Rebels that saw the home team take an 11-7 advantage. Senior Kristen Holt put down a kill that stopped UNLV's run, while Spires tallied the next three Air Force points to bring the squad within three (14-11). Another score by Spires was the broke up another Rebels' scoring run (19-12), while senior Victoria Foster put down a pair of scores to cut the Falcons' deficit to four (20-16). A kill by Clement, as well as a block from Keltner and Rosas, sparked a 4-1 run by Air Force that held the Rebels at set-point, but UNLV captured the final point for the 25-21 win.
Kills by Parker and Clement helped Air Force take an early 4-1 lead, while three kills from Spires put the Falcons ahead by an 8-5 margin. Spires recorded her 20th kill of the match (10-6), before Clement put down three scores to help the Falcons take a 15-11 advantage. The Rebels responded with a 5-1 run to even the score at 16, before Sherrill, Keltner and Clement put down three straight kills to go up three (19-16). UNLV scored five of the next seven points to even the set at 21 and took its first lead on the ensuing point. Rosas added a kill, but UNLV claimed the 25-22 set to take the match.
"Everyone in this conference plays a little bit better at home," head coach Matt McShane said following the match. "I thought that UNLV was exceptionally scrappy tonight ... they did a great job of digging a quite a few balls that I thought were going to go down for kills. We need to learn to play on the road ... we need to learn to play consistently, whether we're at home or on the road. I thought we played exceptionally well at times tonight, though ... better than we have in the past on the road."
Air Force wraps up its West Coast road swing on Saturday (Oct. 11), when it travels to San Diego, Calif., to take on San Diego State at 6:00 p.m. (PT).
