Kearney, Neb. – The now eighth-ranked Nebraska Kearney volleyball team had another strong night from the service line and got 14 kills from middle Bailee Sterling to sweep Emporia State (-16, -12, -16) Tuesday at the Health & Sports Center.
The Lopers improve 20-2 (10-2) and take the season series from the Hornets (4-17, 1-11). This also was the final Tuesday night match of the year as UNK previously hosted Fort Hays State (Sept. 27) and Washburn (Oct. 4).
Head coach Rick Squiers moves to 400-23 (.946 win pct.) in home matches as the Blue & Gold tied a season-high in service aces (11), had 9.0 team blocks and saw Sterling hit .481. Squiers' win total begins with the 1999 season and includes a 2001 win at the Viaero Event Center.
"Clearly Bailee was on fire and whenever we had a little dip in offense, we found her and she was able to get kills tonight," said Squiers.
Emporia ended the night hitting exactly zero (23-23-102) as they had 14 unforced errors besides those nine Loper stuffs. The Hornets did take advantage of eight UNK misfires, had six of their own team blocks and served up four aces.
UNK didn't trail until the third set and there were only five lead changes all night. Freshman DS Lexi Stephens (Ankeny, Ia.) had two aces with right side Lauren Taubenheim (Lincoln Pius X) and DS/setter Rhianna Wilhelm (Henderson) at three apiece. That pushes the Blue & Gold's ace tally to 37 over the past four matches.
"Some of that is the teams we're playing. It was kind of an area of weakness for them and I think we saw that tonight. Emporia, when they could get the ball to their setter, ran a good offense that was hard to stop," said Squiers. "You have to take advantage of that against them and credit our servers. We have people serving tough float balls, hitting their zones and not erring a lot."
Sterling almost had half of UNK's kills with her total coming in just 27 swings. She also had three blocks, two digs and a couple of long service runs. Next, outside EmersenCyza (Alliance) had eight kills and two stuffs with freshman Emilee Lane (Hays, Kan.) having four kills and hitting .300 in the third set. Finally, setter Peyton Neff (North Platte) had two of UNK's five solo blocks.
Things get tougher this weekend as the Lopers are at No. 19 Central Oklahoma (19-2, 9-2) on Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. and then visit the Newman Jets (7-14, 2-9) Saturday at 1 p.m. The UCO match was recently moved up two hours.
"It's a big road trip for us. Central Oklahoma is playing as well as anyone in the league right now and they are in the same place we are. They are a contender and getting better because there are so young," said Squiers. "Win or lose, you got another scary one Saturday at another tough place to play."
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