UNK Falls In Five At NCAA Tournament

The 32nd-ranked Washburn Ichabods rallied twice in the fifth set to beat fifth-ranked Nebraska Kearney (20-25, -20, 21-25, -18, -13) in an NCAA Tournament match Thursday morning in St. Cloud, Minn.

This was the first round of the eight team Central Regional with UNK (30-3) the third seed and the 'Bods the sixth seed (21-7). Washburn will face either sixth-ranked Central Oklahoma or 15th-ranked Southwest Minnesota State on Friday night.

UNK beat WU by scores of 3-0 (Kearney) and 3-2 (Topeka) earlier this year and came in 3-0 in five-set matches. However, the 'Bods dusted themselves off after trailing 7-1 and 13-12 in the fifth set. They hit .317 (17-4-41) in the fourth to erase an early 3-0 hole and force a deciding set.  

"No question, those sting and they don't sting any more than that one You get the big lead early (in the fifth) and sometimes that changes the dynamic how you play. You go into this protective mode instead of just trying to score, you're trying not to lose something that you think you already have," said UNK head coach Rick Squiers. "All that came into play, and we didn't handle it very well."

The Loper rocketed out to a 7-1 cushion thanks to three kills from senior outside Asha Regier (Newton, Kan.), two aces from graduate right side Lauren Taubenheim (Lincoln Pius) and two unforced WU attack errors. However, after a timeout, the 'Bods went on a 9-3 run to knot things up at 10.

To get back into things and force the first of four ties in the fifth, Washburn aced UNK three times, got a total of five kills from three different players and saw the Lopers serve one just a bit long. The teams then traded points with the Blue & Gold moving ahead 13-12 on a solo block from sophomore middle Mia Berg (Eureka, Mo.). A point earlier, a Berg attack attempt was out by inches, tying things at 12 instead of making it 13-11 Lopers.

Washburn closed things out on the strength of another close UNK attack error, combined block and kill from senior middle Austin Broadie. She was one of eight 'Bods between three-15 kills.

"I think it was one of those where, the longer it went on, the more 'we're supposed to win, they got nothing to lose' factor started to show up," said Squiers. "Obviously, we got a little up tight down the stretch and did some uncharacteristic things. Give them a little credit for that; they were really serving tough in the fifth. For them to be able to step back to the service line…there's pressure in doing that to. Those were some difficult serves; absolute bombs."

The 'Bods out hit the Lopers by a .231-.169 margin while being very busy in the serve game to the tune of eight aces and 12 errors. Next, they had five more digs, 3.5 more blocks and took advantage of 14 unforced UNK attack errors.

A very balanced attack included strong efforts from freshman reserve outside Emery Keebaugh (14 kills, .360 pct., three blocks), Broadie (15 kills, .371 pct., three blocks) and junior middle Alex Dvorak (10 kills, .261 pct., nine blocks). In the backrow, sophomore Taylor Rottinghaus had 31 digs and two aces.

For UNK, Regier had a career-high 20 kills with nine of those coming in the opening set. She had a team-best 68 attempts with position mate Emilee Lane (Hays, Kan.) providing 14 kills in 50 swings. In the middle, junior Abby Rose (Lindsborg, Kan.) finished with 13 kills, three blocks and a .287 percentage with Berg at eight kills and eight blocks. Finally, Taubenheim and libero Alli Wiese (Mattawan, Mich.) combined for 40 digs with setter Peyton Neff (North Platte) at 50 assists, 12 digs, four blocks and one of the team's five aces.

"We played our hearts out and certainly proud of our group this year for everything they've done in the name of Loper volleyball," said Squiers.

In addition to Regier, Taubenheim and Wiese, the graduate/seniors also on this year's squad were right side Lauren Vandenberg (David City) and DS Addyson Mock (Stilwell, Kan.).