UNK Volleyball: #4 Lopers Secure a Piece of the MIAA Title

The fourth-ranked Nebraska Kearney volleyball team had 29 kills and hit .412 over the final two sets to rally past 26th-ranked Missouri Western (21-25, -22, 12-25, -21, -11) Thursday night in St. Joseph.

The Lopers (27-1, 14-1) sweep the season series from the Griffons (21-6, 11-4) and have earned at least a share of the MIAA regular season title. UNK finishes the regular season tomorrow at Northwest Missouri while Central Oklahoma (12-2) hosts Washburn and Emporia State this weekend.

Mo West took a 2-1 lead after they molly-whopped the Lopers in the third set. They won 25-12 and were up 20-9 at one point. UNK hit just .083 (9-6-36) while MWSU came in at .389 (17-3-50).

The Griffs registered 29 kills over the final two sets as well but hit .240 in the fourth and couldn't keep pace with the Lopers in the fifth. In the fourth, things were all tied at 19 before UNK closed on a 6-2 run. The points came via three straight kills by junior middle Abby Rose (Lindsborg, Kan.), another one from sophomore outside Carly Purdy (North Platte), a block and unforced Mo West attack error.

Like at Washburn, UNK came out strong in the fifth and then won a late video review. A kill from senior outside Asha Regier (Newton, Kan.) made it 6-1 but the Griffs chipped away and were down just 11-9 after two Taylor Russell kills. It then appeared it was just a one-point lead, but a video overturned the call and gave Regier another kill. Finally, the Lopers closed things out thanks to kills by Regier and Rose.

Overall, Mo West hit 27 points higher, had 12 more kills and 11 more digs with UNK having two more blocks and were plus four in the serve game.

Rose hit a sparkling .452 (15-1-31) with her 15 kills a new career-high effort. Earlier this year, she had 10 against both Drury and Missouri Southern. She also added five blocks with position mate Mia Berg (Eureka, Mo.) adding a career-high 10 (all assists).

Next, Purdy came off the bench early and had 13 kills and hit .333 with Regier warming up in the fifth set to have 12 kills in a team-best 49 swings. In the back row, libero Alli Wiese (Mattawan, Mich.) had 24 digs and two of UNK's four aces with sophomore DS Lexi Stephens (Ankeny, Ia.) digging up 15 balls.

Russell amassed 24 kills, six blocks, two digs and hit .377 to pace Mo West. Also, Holly Heldt (18 digs, 11 kills) had a double double with Emily Loy at 17 kills and libero Anna Weberg at 27 digs.

UNK is at Northwest (14-10) on Friday, November 15th at 6 p.m. The Bearcats were off tonight as they host Fort Hays State on Saturday.