October 7, 2008

No. 9 Volleyball Sweeps Peru State

Burson Has Big Night; Clausen Officially Done

      Kearney, Neb. –  Junior outside Erica Burson had a match-high 12 kills to lead the 9^th-ranked Nebraska-Kearney volleyball team over Peru State (-14, -13, -17) Tuesday night at the Health & Sports Center.

      UNK extends its winning streak to 19 straight matches while the Bobcats fall to 12-5 on the year.

      Before the first serve, UNK learned that starting right side hitter Shannon Clausen (Beatrice) will be lost for the year due to a knee injury. The fourth-year junior suffered the injury Saturday night in a win over Western New Mexico.

      Thanks to some strong serving, the Lopers were never threatened by Peru. Having trouble getting into their offense, the ‘Cats ended the night with more errors (23) then kills (22) for a negative .011 attack percentage.

       Mean while, UNK hit .303 in the first set and then warmed up to .357 in the second. Burson (Gross Catholic), in her first start of the year, hit .333 en route to her kill total while also supplying two digs and a block.

       In the middle, junior Nikki Scott (Broken Bow) continued her strong offensive play of late by hitting .429 and recording nine kills and two blocks. Senior Juli Minicz (Waverly) started the final two sets and had five kills in 11 swings for a match-high .455 attack percentage.  She also led the Lopers in blocks (four).  

      Also on defense, freshman outside Shelby Workman (Loveland, Colo.) had a team-high 11 digs while redshirt freshman setter Jordan Squiers (Kearney Catholic) had eight digs, 23 assists and two blocks over the final two sets.

     Chelsea Bergman led Peru with eight kills and seven digs.

    The top two teams in the RMAC’s West Division, Mesa State (Friday) and Fort Lewis (Saturday), visit this weekend. Pictured below are Scott-Burson-Workman.