Six Lopers Tabbed 2022 All-MIAA
Kearney, Neb. – The 12th-ranked Nebraska Kearney Lopers have placed six on the 2022 All-MIAA volleyball team. The league's 11 head coaches vote on the makeup of the squad and cannot vote for their own players. Making the first team is outside hitter Emersen Cyza (Alliance), middle blocker Bailee Sterling (Kearney), setter Peyton Neff (North Platte) and libero Jensen Rowse (Minden). Cyza is a repeat first-teamer with Sterling bumping up from 2021 second-team accolades. Neff and Rowse are honored for the first time. Receiving honorable mention accolades was middle blocker Fallon Stutheit (Johnson) and right side Lauren Taubenheim (Lincoln). This is Taubenheim's second All-MIAA honor and the first for Stutheit. Cyza is at 3.82 kills per set while hitting .270. Her current kps average ranks seventh in school history and the best by a Loper in 16 years. Closing in on 1,000 kills in college (928), she had had four matches with at least 20 kills and eight others with at least 16. Next, Sterling is at 2.8 kills, 0.9 digs and 0.9 blocks per set while hitting .313. The fifth-year player also is one of six Lopers to have a double digit serve ace total (27) and has appeared in 101 of a possible 108 sets. She has had a double digit kill total in 12 matches and reached five blocks five times. Neff, a redshirt freshman, is at 11.0 assists and 2.3 digs per set with 27 aces and a .386 hitting efficiency. She directs an offense that leads the MIAA in attack percentage (.257) while being second in kills per set (14.1). Neff had had 11 matches with a double dig total, reached four kills five times and handed out at least 40 assists in 16 matches. Rowse, a third-year Loper, also was a new starter this year with her current digs total (518) ranking 19th in school history for a single season. She also has 118 assists and 27 aces and is the only Loper to appear in all 108 sets. Finally, Taubenheim is at 2.7 digs, 1.4 kills and 0.5 block per set with 22 assists and 19 aces to her credit with Stutheit at a team-best .351 attack percentage. She enters the MIAA tourney at 2.2 kills and 0.8 blocks per set. League champion Northwest Missouri had the Player (setter Alyssa Rezac) and Coach (Amy Worth) of the year with Central Oklahoma's Sydney Huck the Freshman of the Year. The NCAA Tournament selection shows airs at www.ncaa.com Sunday at 9:30 p.m. Central. The MIAA Tourney winner receives an automatic bid with UNK hoping to make its 23rd straight appearance in the 64-team event.
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