5-21 UNLV in volleyball tourney

Monday, Nov. 25, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Despite losing its final six matches of the season and 13 of its last 14, the UNLV women's volleyball team received an at-large selection to compete in this week's inaugural Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Tournament at the MGM Grand Garden arena.

The Rebels (5-21 overall and 3-13 in the WAC) will be the 12th seed in the 12-team, single-elimination tournament and will face No. 5-seed Utah (19-11, 10-6) Tuesday at 3 p.m. The winner of the UNLV-Utah match will meet fourth-seed New Mexico in the second round Wednesday at 3 p.m.

UNLV ended its regular season on Sunday with a 15-11, 15-6, 15-6 loss to Colorado State at North Gym.

Hawaii, the Pacific Division champion and third-ranked team in the nation, received the tournament's top seed while Mountain Division champ and 25th-ranked BYU is the second seed. San Diego State is seeded third and New Mexico is fourth. The top four seeds receive first-round byes.

Following fifth-seeded Utah are No. 6 Fresno State; No. 7 Colorado State; No. 8 UTEP; No. 9 Rice; No. 10 Wyoming; and No. 11 San Jose State.

Tuesday's other first-round matches have Fresno State meeting San Jose State at 1 p.m., UTEP facing Rice at 6:30 p.m. and Colorado State meeting Wyoming at 8:30 p.m.

Wednesday's schedule will have San Diego State playing the winner of the Fresno State-San Jose State match at 1 p.m.; New Mexico facing the winner of the UNLV-Utah contest at 3 p.m.; Hawaii meeting the winner of the UTEP-Rice match at 6:30 p.m.; and BYU taking on the Colorado State-Wyoming winner at 8:30 p.m.

The semifinals will be held Friday at 6 and 8:30 p.m. and the championship match is scheduled to be played Saturday at 2 p.m.

All-session tickets are priced at $30 while single-session tickets are $8 each and are available at the Grand Garden box office.