3 days Ago By UNK Sports Information
A fast start and a balanced attack led third-ranked University of Nebraska at Kearney volleyball team to a 25-9, 25-21, 25-17 sweep of Northwest Missouri in Friday night’s MIAA Volleyball Tournament semifinals. The top-seeded Lopers (30-1) will face second seed and ninth-ranked Central Oklahoma in the finals at 6 p.m.
Saturday in the touchament championship in St. Joseph, Missouri. The Bronchos (29-2) outlasted third-seeded and 27th-ranked Missouri Western in a five-set marathon in Friday's first match.
UNK has now ended the fifth-seeded Bearcats' season four of the last five years. The Lopers, shaking off recent slow starts, jetted out to leads of 12-1, 17-3 and 21-7 in the first set and never looked back. On the night, they outhit Northwest by 202 points, registering 11 blocks and serving up nine aces.
"Really proud of our girls for being on point from the very first serve,” UNK head coach Rick Squiers said on the KRVN Radio post-game show. "You never know how you're going to handle Day 2. The first match went long so you're in the gym a little bit longer than you thought you would be — I kind of expected both teams to come out sloppy because we were standing around so long.
Maybe they did but we did not." After a kill by senior outside hitter Asha Regier made it 3-1 in the early going, redshirt sophomore Lexi Stephens went back to serve. When she was done, the score was 12-2 as the Bearcatsb committed two unforced errors and were aced twice.
"Other than that little stretch in the second set, we were in control of things. The match went beyond what you would hope for this time of year, playing against another good team,” Squiers said. The Lopers led 10-5 in the second set, but Northwest's only run tied things at 16.
The Bearcats' momentum was short-lived as UNK responded with a 5-1 spurt. The points included two kills from junior outside Emilee Lane and a solo stuff from graduate setter Peyton Neff. UNK quickly erased a 2-0 hole in the third set and ended the match with 10 more kills, 10 more digs and 10 more ace serves.
"Our team is at least aware of the fact the further you get into this thing, if you start slow, there's going to come a time you can't dig out of the hole because people are too good," Squiers said. Lane and Regier (.333 pct.
) had 13 kills with middles Abby Rose and Mia Berg at five kills and five blocks. Stephens had four aces with backcourt mates Addyson Mock and Alli Wiese at two apiece. Weise had a team-best 17 digs and Neff provided 31 assists.
"We were really clean, Peyton set a great match and then when we took a shot from them here and there, we responded," Squiers said. Get local news delivered to your inbox!.
