Volleyball on the rise at UNLV

Steve Carp

Tuesday, Sept. 9, 1997 | 9:59 a.m.

There was cause for celebration at Lied Gymnasium, but there was no party.

Even though UNLV's volleyball team accomplished in two scant weeks what took an entire season a year ago, matching last year's five-win output was no reason to get euphoric.

"We never talked about it," said coach Deitre Collins after her Rebels took two of three matches over the weekend in the All-Star Cafe Classic. "We're not focusing on that. We're trying to concentrate on how we can win games."

Still, Collins is pleased to see her team standing at 5-1 after just two weeks. The improvement is evident.

"We weren't as crisp overall as last week," she said. "But we're getting a chance to see who can help us and see how much depth we really have."

It will be more of the same at 7 p.m. Wednesday when the Rebels host the Australian National Team. Collins is looking to play a lot of people in the exhibition and see who is deserving of being in the regular rotation.

She liked what she saw of Kim DeWitt, Liz Goyet and Danielle Gerlach.

"They stepped up," she said of the trio. "We let Liz hit and she did a great job of attacking. She's our defensive stopper and her numbers may not bear it out, but she was strong offensively.

"Kim did a good job blocking and we're going to need that if we're going to be successful."

Gerlach, a sophomore outside hitter, was moved to middle blocker and Collins was impressed.

"Danielle's used to playing outside, so moving to the middle is a big adjustment," she said. "She's our true utility player. She never knows where we're going to use her. We tell her, 'Danielle, you're playing inside,' and she says, 'OK', and just goes out and plays."

Collins also liked the way her team rallied after losing to eventual champ Eastern Washington in Friday's opening round. UNLV came back and beat UC Irvine later that day, then defeated Creighton in four games to go 2-1 for the weekend.

"We didn't lose any confidence, which was a positive sign," she said. "We could've started a downhill slide after losing to Eastern Washington, but we didn't. To me, that's a sign we're maturing."