Coach pleased with UNLV’s volleyball tournament draw

Wednesday, Nov. 24, 1999 | 10:19 a.m.

Believe it or not, UNLV volleyball coach Deitre Collins actually was relieved when she learned that the Rebels had drawn 11th-ranked Colorado State in today's opening round of the Mountain West Conference Tournament in Provo, Utah.

And it had little to do with the fact that UNLV upset the Rams, then ranked 14th, at Lied Gymnasium back in October.

"I think the draw works to our favor not to have to face BYU until late," Collins said. "It's (BYU's) home and it's the last team you want to play.

"Any other matchup, you could be playing them -- or, one more loss and we'd be playing them (today), so I think we got a great draw ... or I should say, the best draw possible."

After losing six straight matches following their upset of Colorado State, the Rebels finished the regular season with wins at Wyoming and at home against Air Force and New Mexico to clinch the seventh seed in this week's tournament.

That late rally allowed the Rebels to move out of the conference cellar and avoid being the eighth seed in the tournament -- and facing BYU in the opening round.

But Collins was quick to point out that playing Colorado State will be no picnic, either.

"Having beaten Colorado State once, we know that they worry about us," Collins said. "Of course, we worry about them, too, but I think if we can elevate our game one more step, we have a good chance of doing well against them -- especially on neutral turf."

UNLV (12-13 overall) will meet No. 2-seed Colorado State (25-2) today in the second of four matches. Third-seeded Utah played No. 6 San Diego State earlier today; No. 4 Air Force will meet No. 5 New Mexico and top-seeded BYU will play No. 8 Wyoming this afternoon.

The winner of the Utah-SDSU match will play the winner of the UNLV-CSU contest Friday afternoon and the winner of the Air Force-New Mexico match will meet the winner of the BYU-Wyoming match later that evening.

The championship match is set for 3 p.m. (PST) on Saturday.