Bree Hammel keeps UNLV volleyball in hunt for NCAA berth

Bree Hammel’s athleticism, even as a high-schooler, made Cindy Fredrick sure she needed to recruit the Bonanza product to UNLV.

The redshirt senior’s adaptability turned out to be just as important. Hammel, an outside hitter in high school, has played in the middle and on the right and left sides for UNLV. This year the two-time Mountain West first-team honoree has played in the back row as well, and her versatile game is flourishing in her final season.

“She’s one of those kids that wherever you put her, she’s going to bloom,” Fredrick said. “When you teach her something, you can tell her something two or three times max and she’ll have it. She’ll make that change. And that’s a very unusual thing with young athletes.”

Hammel’s offensive game has always been strong, as she finished second on the team in kills as a sophomore and first as a junior. She’s third in the Mountain West in kills per set this year (3.85), but she’s also made great strides in other areas of her game.

Defensively, she has more digs this season (261) than she had in the previous three combined (155).

“I’m usually the person hitting, so having people hit at me is a little bit different,” Hammel said. “In the beginning I was definitely scared, and the whole team knew about it. But now, I’m so used to it I’m like ‘hit at me, please.’ ”

Hammel’s versatility is letting her impact matches in a multitude of ways, something she wasn’t able to do as much before. She has nine double-doubles this season with at least 10 kills and digs, after having only one triple-double and one double-double her junior year.

Playing in the back row has also given Hammel more opportunities to showcase a top-spin serve she’s been working on, and she has a career-high 40 aces this season.

”Each year, (Fredrick’s) challenged me at a new position and I’ve risen to the challenge,” Hammel said.

Hammel also had another obstacle to overcome this year: an injured knee she spent the offseason rehabbing. She tore her anterior cruciate ligament in November 2015 and Fredrick held her out of the team’s spring tournaments. But when she returned to practice on a limited basis Hammel would only play the back row, which helped her round out her game this year.

“A lot of people say you might be hesitant coming back to the court, but that was never my mentality,” Hammel said. “Sometimes my coach has to tell me to put my brace on, because I’ll forget. I just feel like I’m a regular volleyball player now.”

Hammel certainly isn’t playing like a regular volleyball player. And that’s one of the reasons why the Rebels are still in the NCAA tournament chase late in the year.

“She’s the best athlete we’ve had,” Fredrick said. “I don’t think anybody would deny that.”

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With one regular-season match to play, UNLV (22-7, 11-6 Mountain West) cannot mathematically win the Mountain West Conference and grab an automatic NCAA bid, but the team is still well-positioned to make the tournament.

The Rebels were ranked No. 24 when the RPI was released Nov. 14, though the team is expected to drop slightly when the latest rankings are released Monday after losses to San Diego State and UNR. Still, UNLV’s 11-1 record in nonconference play should keep the team in good position for an at-large bid.

“We feel like we’ve had a really good season,” Hammel said Nov. 23, before the match against UNR. “I’m happy that it’s my last year and we’re going out like this.”

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.