November 17, 2007
Volleyball Survives UCO, in Southwest Finals Again
Lopers Fight Off Four Game Points in 2nd Set; Record 16 Team Blocks on the Night
Kearney, Neb. – The 22nd-ranked Nebraska-Kearney volleyball team rallied from a 29-26 deficit in game two and got 19 kills from sophomore Nikki Scott to beat Central Oklahoma in four sets (-28, -31, 20-30, -23) in an NCAA Tournament second round match Saturday night in Kearney.
The top-seeded Lopers (33-4), winners of 19 straight, move into the Southwest Regional finals tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. and will face 10th-ranked, and second seed, West Texas A & M (34-7). The Lady Buffs beat 6th-seed Metro State in four games (-25, 31-33, -20, -21) in the other second round match.
Since the current regional alignment began in 1998, this will mark UNK's sixth Southwest finals appearance while WTAMU has made the finals five times. The two schools have combined to win seven of the last nine Southwest titles.
Tonight against the Bronchos (32-7), UNK jumped out to a 19-14 lead in the first set but UCO came back to take a 23-22 lead.
The Lopers would grab a 29-27 lead as Grand Island freshman Jeri Walkowiak pounded out three kills. After a UCO timeout, the Bronchos fought off game point on a kill by Katie Schult.
Scott and sophomore Shannon Clausen (Beatrice) then blocked Kelsey Reynolds to give UNK a 1-0 match lead.
UCO responded to the close loss by jumping out to an 11-5 lead in game two. After UNK got within one at 27-26, the Bronchos got two kills from Reynolds to reach game point.
That's when things got interesting.
Walkowiak recorded a kill, then paired up with Clausen to record back-to-back blocks of Reynolds to tie the set at 29. After a UCO timeout, a Walkowiak kill got the Lopers to game point. But, a Bronchos kill and a Walkowiak attack error gave UCO another game point, 31-30.
Sophomore outside Erica Burson (Gretna) tied things back up with a kill and then an unforced error and a block by Clausen and Walkowiak gave UNK the game and a 2-0 lead.
UCO rebounded once again, dominating the third set by out hitting Kearney .310 to .109. However, the Lopers turned the tables in game four, hitting .241 to the Bronchos' .170 effort.
For the match, UCO had five more kills, 74-69, but six more attack errors, 32-26. UNK thus out hit the Lone Star Conference member, .201 to .196. UNK also had a season-high 16.0 team blocks with Clausen recording 10 block assists and Walkowiak having 11 total blocks (two solo, nine assisted).
Scott (Broken Bow) reached her kill total in 42 swings and hit .333 with Clausen hitting a team-high .345 and having 14 kills. This would be Clausen's sixth double double of the year. Also, Burson had her third double double of 2007 (16 kills, 10 digs) with Walkowiak adding 15 kills to her double digit block total.
Finally, senior Lauren Nordhues (Bartlett) had a career-high 25 digs in the back row with setter Cola Svec (Elkhorn) handing out 62 assists and digging up 16 balls.
For UCO, star outside hitter Mari Araujo had 21 kills and 19 digs, Reynolds finished with 17 kills and Schult was at 12 kills and eight blocks. Finally, all-region libero and senior Lacie Allen had a match-high 35 digs.
Pictured below are Clausen-Nordhues-Scott-Walkowiak.
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Contact:
Peter Yazvac
yazvacpa@unk.edu |