Volleyball team in need of recovery

Thursday, Oct. 28, 1999 | 9:59 a.m.

A once-promising season has been derailed by a series of injuries, but UNLV head volleyball coach Deitre Collins has not given up hope of her team performing well in the Mountain West Conference Tournament next month or qualifying for the NCAA Tournament.

After jumping out to a 7-0 start, the Rebels have dropped nine of their past 11 games and are last in the eight-team MWC with a 1-6 mark (9-9 overall). But because the reason for UNLV's struggles of late are easily identifiable, Collins said the mounting losses have not adversely affected her players' confidence.

"Our first couple of losses seemed to take a toll (on our confidence), but they have rebounded well and they have worked hard in practice," Collins said. "Everybody has been open to trying new things, moving around, and they are very patient.

"I think when you see reasons for things like this to happen, it makes it a little easier; we know it's not because we're not trying or not doing all that we can, it's just the luck of the draw right now. We've had a lot of bad luck in a year that we expected a lot out of, and it makes it hard."

The Rebels will try to avenge an earlier loss at home to San Diego State when they take on the Aztecs (8-12 overall, 2-5 in conference) Friday night in San Diego.

Setter Julia Goes suffered a concussion earlier this season, but has since returned, and outside hitter Danielle Gerlach (shoulder) and middle blocker Alicia Erickson (back) are nursing injuries and may not be available for Friday's contest.

"I feel like we haven't been able to get into a rhythm just because we can't seem to keep people healthy," Collins said. "I think we're playing hard, we just have people playing out of position right now."

UNLV has seven conference matches remaining before the MWC Tournament, and Collins is hopeful the Rebels can play their way out of the conference cellar and improve their seeding.

"I'm still optimistic because as we get people back healthy, we still have a chance to go into the conference tournament and be a strong team," Collins said. "We still have enough matches left that if we win some and we finish in the top three, we could still feasibly get a (NCAA Tournament) bid.

"We haven't given up hope on making the NCAA Tournament but it's not our focus, obviously, at this point, either."

* MEN'S SOCCER: The Rebels host their final two Mountain Pacific Sports Federation matches of the season this weekend when they meet UC Irvine at 9 p.m. Friday and San Diego St. noon Sunday.

UNLV (6-9 overall and 1-3 in conference) will close the season with a MPSF match at New Mexico on Nov. 7.

Rebels seniors Geoff Barto, Ryan Bledsoe, B.J. McNicol and Todd Roberts will be honored in Senior Day ceremonies prior to Sunday's match at Johann Field.

* WOMEN'S SOCCER: UNLV's women's soccer team, which finished the Mountain West Conference tied for fifth place with a 1-5 record (6-9-1 overall), will close its season this weekend in the UNLV-Fila Tournament at Johann Field.

Detroit Mercy, Portland State and Utah State will join the Rebels in the tournament, which will be part of daily tripleheaders with the men's team's matches.

Utah State will play Portland State at 5 p.m. Friday and UNLV will meet Detroit Mercy at 7 p.m. Friday. The losers of Friday's matches will play for the consolation championship at 2 p.m. Sunday while the first-round winners will meet for the tournament championship at 4 p.m. Sunday.

* CROSS COUNTRY: The Rebels received some welcomed news as they prepare for Friday's Mountain West Conference Championships in Provo, Utah.

Senior Stephanie Davidson, who missed the Rebels' last meet due to a leg injury, will return to the starting lineup Friday for the conference championships. Davidson has been the Rebels' top finisher in each of the three meets in which she has competed this season.

Also running for UNLV Friday will be Katie Barto, Sharlene Downing, Kathryn Goetz, Rhonda Kilfoyle, Paula Lechner and Jenni Nelson.

UNLV has never finished higher than third at a conference championship meet and has not finished higher than fifth since the 1994 Big West Conference Championships.

"We've done everything we can to prepare for this meet, now it's just time to go out there and perform," UNLV distance coach Mary Shea said. "We will use this meet as a measuring stick in terms of what to expect from the competition in this conference, both on the track and in future cross country meets."