#8 Lopers Sweep USF to Start Busy Weekend

Kearney, Neb. – Senior outside hitter Emilee Lane had another big night, and eight-ranked ranked Nebraska Kearney hit .408 to sweep Sioux Falls (-21, -16, -10) Thursday at the Health & Sports Center.

This was the first match of the annual Rosella Meier Fall Classic. Besides UNK (6-0) and USF (3-2), Adams State, South Dakota Mines and Missouri-St. Louis are in attendance this weekend.

Lane (Hays, Kan.) made the "Windjammer Classic" All-Tournament team last weekend in Vermont after back-to-back 15 kill efforts. Tonight, she had a match-high 16 while hitting .519. That included seven kills in nine swings with no errors (.778) in the first set.

"Emilee has the right kind of senior mentality. It's one of those deals where she really understands this is the last opportunity to play college volleyball," said UNK head coach Rick Squiers. "She wants to make the most of it and she had to fight to just have that (starting) job. It was a good battle, she won it, and she doesn't want to give it up."

Both teams were on first in the early going and combined 33 kills in the first set. UNK never trailed but had to outlast the Cougars who hit .303 (16-6-33).

"We could not stop them at all (in the first set). We let them hit well over .300 and you don't win many first sets when that happens," said Squiers. "I thought we eventually wore them down a little bit. Got some block touches and made some plays on defense."

The Lopers started to settle down on the defensive end, limiting the Cougs to just a combined 17 kills over the final two sets. USF hit under .200 in set two and was at zero (6-6-28) in the third. Offensively, UNK remained hot.

"Our offense carried us for half the match. We were in system a lot, our backrow people did a great job, and our outsides were unstoppable for a while," said Squiers. "We really got offense wherever we wanted it. Credit to (setter) Peyton Neff for doing that."

Beside Lane's heroics, graduate outside Carly Purdy (North Platte) had 12 kills, five digs and three blocks, senior middle Abby Rose (Lindsborg, Kan.) was at eight kills in 12 attempts (.667) with junior middle Mia Berg (Eureka, Mo.) hitting .700 (7-0-10).

Defensively, junior libero Ellie Spang (Ft. Wayne, Ind.) had a team-best 10 digs and was 13 for 14 in serve receive, sophomore DS Anna Laincz (Lansing, Kan.) had six digs and was 16 for 16 in serve receive with senior DS Aleena Peterson (Kansas City) having two of UNK's three aces.

"Our backrow is getting better and better. That has been the biggest concern coming in, when you have to replace Lauren Taubenheim, Alli Wiese, Addyson Mock. They are doing it by committee and Ellie is really settling as the anchor point for us," said Squiers. "They are starting to jell."

USF was led by outside Sadie Voss (nine kills, five digs, 25 for 25 in serve receive) and Lincoln Southwest grad Courtney Holsteen (eight kills, four digs, two blocks).

UNK battles ASU and UMSL on Friday.