Skillful dives and powerful kills were not enough to save the San Jose State women’s volleyball team from a 3-0 loss against the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on Saturday.

The match in Las Vegas was the Spartans’ (4-3 MWC) eighth loss of the postponed 2020 season and the second season loss against the Rebels  (2-2-1 MWC) following a 3-1 defeat Friday in Las Vegas.

Middle blocker Haylee Nelson and outside hitter Latahevai Lousi had the most kills in the two-game series.

Nelson’s attack percentage decreased from 18% in Friday’s match to 10% on Saturday while Lousi’s attack percentage increased from 14% to 23% from Friday to Saturday, respectively. 

The match was broadcasted on the Mountain West Digital Network, beginning just as the first timeout was called for SJSU, around minute 25 of Set 1, when UNLV was leading 21-13. 

Although the Rebels got the first point of the match, kills by Lousi and outside hitter Makayla Lewis put the Spartans at a slight 3-1 advantage early in Set 1. 

The Rebels quickly came back with two runs to put the team 5 points ahead of the Spartans. 

After that SJSU consistently trailed behind UNLV in the first set. 

The score difference between the teams during Set 1 increased as points stacked up for UNLV.

The Spartans made multiple attack and service errors throughout Set 1 resulting in free points for the Rebels. 

SJSU had significantly more serving errors during Saturday’s match compared to Friday’s and nearly doubled the team’s 7 errors in Friday’s match to a whopping 12 on Saturday. 

UNLV landed a kill as the match continued and increased its 6-point lead to a 7-point lead to settle Set 1’s score 19-12. 

Although Lewis landed a kill for the Spartans, the Rebels’ growing number of kills and an attack error by Nelson resulted in another timeout called for the Spartans at 21-13. 

SJSU was unable to reach or hold a lead past the beginning of the match.

A serve that was too high from Spartans setter Mia Schafer secured Set 1 for the Rebels 25-17. 

Schafer started Set 2 for the Spartans with an ace, but the Rebels caught up and maintained a steady lead. 

There were few short rallies between the teams, but the Spartans stepped up with an impressive dig by Lewis that gave Nelson the kill. 

Lewis also landed a kill for SJSU and the teams were briefly tied 12-12. 

Runs broken up mostly by bad serves and errors resulted in a Rebel lead, but service aces and a kill by Lousi resulted in another tied score of 22-22 during Set 2. 

Similar to Set 1, an attack error by Nelson awarded Set 2 to the Rebels 25-22. 

Set 3 of the match started off with a kill for SJSU by Lewis. 

The lead went back and forth but after a 4-point run the Rebels had a solid grasp on a 10-5 advantage. 

A timeout for SJSU gave the team a point, but a combination of service and attack errors by SJSU paired with kills and service aces by UNLV caused SJSU to call another timeout at 17-9. 

Service errors, attack errors and poor serves from the Spartans ultimately gave the Rebels Set 3 25-16 and secured the 3-0 match for the Rebels.  

No Spartan players or coaches were available after the game for comment.

San Jose State is scheduled to return home for its next match against the University of New Mexico on Thursday.