Chelsea Goodman recorded 16 kills for BYU in a three-game loss at UNLV. (Photo by Mark Philbrick/BYU Photo)

LAS -- The No. 12-ranked BYU women's volleyball team ran into one of the hottest team's in the country Thursday night in Las Vegas, suffering a three-game defeat to UNLV at Cox Pavilion in the Mountain West Conference opener for both teams.

The Rebels downed the Cougars, 30-20, 30-26, 30-23, to win their eighth straight match and improve to 9-1 overall on the season, the best start in school history.

"UNLV did everything well and played an incredibly error-free match," BYU coach Jason Watson said. "We didn't respond in a way that is representative of what we've been able to do."

The first game seemed to be going the Cougars' way until UNLV put together a 10-1 run to turn a two-point deficit into a 25-18 advantage. Erica Lott and Ashton Hansen teamed to block UNLV's next attack to get within six, but the Cougars weren't able to inch any closer as the Rebels finished the game on a 15-3 overall run for the 30-20 victory.

The second game was again close over the first half of the contest before UNLV started to gain the upper hand. With the score tied at 16-16, UNLV scored six of the next eight points to force a BYU timeout. BYU fought back to tie the game again at 25 and at 26 before UNLV put together four straight points to earn the win at 30-26.

UNLV maintained its momentum in the third game, building a 13-7 lead on the way to a 20-11 advantage. The Cougars chipped away at the deficit to get within five at 23-18 but they would get no closer while being closed out by a 30-23 tally.

Chelsea Goodman recorded 16 kills to lead BYU while Erica Lott contributed 11. The Cougars hit .186 for the match while the Rebels put together an efficient .333 attack and kept more balls alive with a 42-29 digs advantage. Bryn Porter had seven digs to lead the Cougars.

With the loss, BYU falls to 6-3 on the year and 0-1 in the MWC. The win is UNLV's first over BYU since the 2002 season. Maria Aladjova led the Rebels with 18 kills and 10 digs to record her eighth double-double performance in 10 outings this season.

BYU travels to San Diego for its next match against San Diego State (8-2, 1-0) Saturday at 7 p.m. PT.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                                  BYU Cougars
             #12 BYU Cougars vs UNLV (09-13-07 at Las Vegas, Nev.)
    BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  GOODMAN, Chelsea....  3| 16   7  36  .250|  0|  1   1|  1|  4| 0  0  1|  0|  17.0
 4  HANSEN, Ashton......  2|  1   1   6  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0|   1.5
 9  ROGERS, Kiana.......  2|  0   0   0  .000| 26|  0   1|  0|  4| 0  2  1|  2|   1.0
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  3| 11   6  32  .156|  3|  0   2|  0|  5| 0  1  2|  0|  11.5
 13 PORTER, Bryn........  3|  7   3  23  .174|  1|  0   1|  0|  7| 1  1  1|  0|   8.5
 44 DYER, Rachel........  3|  6   4  14  .143|  0|  0   3|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0|   6.5
 7  MEASOM, Christina...  2|  2   2   5  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0|   3.0
 11 PINEGAR, Annie......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  1   0|  0|  6| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 15 SCHLAUDER, Amy......  1|  2   0   2 1.000| 14|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  1|   2.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 45  23 118  .186| 45|  2   8|  1| 29| 1  8  5|  3|  52.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 5.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  11  9  42  .048   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  16  6  33  .303   BYU Cougars......... (0) 20 26 23  6-3, 0-1 MWC
   3  18  8  43  .233   UNLV................ (3) 30 30 30  9-1, 1-0 MWC
    UNLV                   |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  NUA, Melody.........  3|  5   0   6  .833| 41|  0   0|  0|  6| 0  1  2|  1|   5.5
 6  ALADJOVA, Maria.....  3| 18   6  34  .353|  2|  0   0|  0| 10| 1  2  0|  0|  20.0
 9  NOLAND, Samantha....  3|  2   2   6  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  4  1|  0|   4.0
 10 MIRAMONTES, Lauren..  3| 11   5  20  .300|  1|  0   0|  0|  3| 2  2  1|  0|  14.0
 15 WALTERS, Jessica....  3|  9   3  30  .200|  2|  0   0|  0|  2| 1  2  0|  0|  11.0
 18 GREENWOOD, Erin.....  3|  0   1   1-1.000|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  1|   0.0
 4  CUNNINGHAM, Camille.  3|  0   0   1  .000|  2|  1   0|  1|  9| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 7  WALKER, Jada........  3|  0   1   1-1.000|  1|  0   0|  0| 10| 0  0  0|  1|   0.0
 12 MORAN, Gerryn.......  3|  9   0   9 1.000|  0|  0   0|  1|  1| 0  2  0|  0|  10.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 54  18 108  .333| 50|  1   0|  2| 42| 4 13  4|  3|  65.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  15  7  37  .216   Site: Las Vegas, Nev. (Cox Pavilion)
   2  20  7  32  .406   Date: 09-13-07       Attend: 866   Time: 1:40
   3  19  4  39  .385   Referees: Ken Taylor, John Freddie