Volleyball coach remains upbeat despite slump

Thursday, Oct. 7, 1999 | 10:31 a.m.

Despite watching her team lose four of its past five matches after opening the season with seven straight wins, UNLV volleyball coach Deitre Collins remains confident heading into Friday's match at 10th-ranked BYU.

"We started off the season playing well and I think we've had a little lapse," Collins said. "But we've been practicing a little bit better so we're getting back on track. It's still early, it's very early."

UNLV (8-4, 0-1 in the Mountain West Conference) lost three straight matches last month to then-No. 19 USC, then-No. 12 Pepperdine and unranked Santa Clara before rebounding with a win against rival Nevada-Reno.

The Rebels continued their inconsistency with a loss at home to San Diego State last Saturday in their conference opener, but Collins said she saw signs of improvement in her team against the Aztecs.

"I was disappointed with losing to San Diego State but I was not disappointed in the steps that we made, because we had not been playing very well up until then," Collins said.

BYU, with its top-10 national ranking and 10-2 record (2-0 in the MWC), will present the Rebels with their stiffest challenge of the young conference season.

"Obviously, we have a great test this weekend," Collins said. "We're going to have to be at the top of our game to beat them. Obviously, they've got some talented athletes and they have played at a higher level for a longer period of time than we have.

"With how things have gone over the past few weeks, we really have to focus more on getting our game to a higher level than we have to focus on wins and losses."

* MEN'S SOCCER: Head coach Barry Barto's Rebels will be off this weekend for the first time since opening the season Sept. 1.

UNLV (5-6) will use the extra time off to prepare for next Friday's Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match against UCLA at Johann Field. The Bruins are ranked third in the latest Soccer America poll.

The Rebels are coming off a pair of 2-1 losses on the road to Vanderbilt and Western Kentucky.

* WOMEN'S SOCCER: The Rebels open Mountain West Conference play this weekend with matches Friday at Wyoming and Sunday at Air Force.

In their first season of competition last year, the Rebels posted identical 2-1 victories over Wyoming (at home) and Air Force (on the road).

UNLV (5-4-1) had its four-match home winning streak snapped last Friday with a 1-0 loss to Kentucky.

* CROSS COUNTRY: The Rebels have decided not to attend their scheduled meet this weekend in Long Beach (Calif.), opting instead to stay home and train another week before hosting the UNLV Invitational on Oct. 16 at Sunset Park.

The UNLV Invitational will be the Rebels' last competition before the inaugural Mountain West Conference Championships Oct. 29 in Provo, Utah.

* WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: The UNLV women's basketball program will hold the "Run with the Rebels 5K Run/Walk" Saturday at 8 a.m., beginning in the Thomas & Mack Center parking lot.

The event, which is a fund raiser for the women's basketball program, will feature an opportunity to interact with UNLV athletes and meet head coach Regina Miller and her staff.

The cost is $25. For more information, contact Staci Schulz in the UNLV women's basketball office at 895-3151.