BOX SCORE 

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Despite multiple rallies and fighting off many match points the Eastern Kentucky University volleyball team fell to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in five sets on Tuesday night at the Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada.
 
The Rebels (3-1) won by scores of 25-23, 23-25, 27-29, 25-21 and 15-11.
 
Despite losing the first set by two, the Colonels (2-2) came back in the second set and fought their way to victory. After a battle of back-and-forth the score was tied at 19-19 until the Rebels committed a service error, breathing new life into the Colonels. Senior Celina Sanks then put a ball away to make it 21-19, Colonels. Freshman Lauren Kolenik and senior Nikki Drost would both get in on the action before Drost claimed the set with a thundering attack 25-23 to even the sets 1-1.
 
UNLV seemed to run away with the third set early on with the Colonels finding themselves in a 14-8 hole, until Cassie Knutson came up with a kill to spark a 9-3 run that ended with a kill from Rachel Woody to tie the game at 17-17. EKU fell behind again but went on to tie the set five more times (19-19, 24-24, 25-25, 26-26 and 27-27). An attack error from the Rebels gave the Colonels a 28-27 lead, giving Cassie Knutson what she needed to end the set, 27-25.
 
Two Colonels notched double-doubles on the night – Drost (19 kills and 14 digs) and Sanks (16 kills and 13 digs). Woody racked up 41 assists.
 
EKU topped UNLV in the digs section of the statistics sheet, 59 to 49.
 
Eastern Kentucky will gear up to head to Tucson, Arizona for the Cactus Classic this weekend where they will play two games on Friday and one game on Saturday.