Kearney, Neb. – Sophomore middle Mia Berg had 16 kills and third-ranked Nebraska Kearney registered a season-high 13 blocks to down Northwest Missouri State in four sets (-18, 23-25, -12, -15) Saturday afternoon at the Health & Sports Center.
UNK (16-0, 4-0) now has a three-match week at they travel to Fort Hays State Tuesday night. They then return to Buckle Court for “Homecoming” and face Emporia State and Washburn.
The Lopers made an early statement against the Bearcats (8-6, 2-2) as they started the match with three consecutive blocks and a service ace. UNK had six team stuffs in the set as they never trailed but had four fewer kills than Northwest, 13-9. A 7-1 Loper spurt ended things and included service aces from libero Alli Wiese (Mattawan, Mich.) and DS Lexi Stephens (Ankeny, Ia.) and a block by setter Peyton Neff (North Platte) and Berg (Eureka, Mo.).
“The early blocks were huge, and you never quite know how you’re going to respond on day two of a conference weekend,” said UNK head coach Rick Squiers. “We all have information on each other so we kinda knew what they wanted to do but it’s another thing to go out and execute the game plan right after you played a match.”
UNK had six different three-point leads in set two but the ‘Cats didn’t go away as they recorded 19 kills. They tied things up at 22 on a kill from Payton Kirchhoefer and then used another kill, block and unforced error to tie the match up.
However, it was all Lopers from there on as Northwest had 22 hitting errors over the final two sets, many of the unforced variety. Meanwhile, UNK had 22 kills in this stretch with only six miscues.
“Those blocks right out of the chute gets into a hitter’s head a little bit. The rest of the night they are thinking can it hit this shot, can I not hit this shot,” said Squiers. “I think that set the tone and gave us some confidence. We were able to take some things away from them and the match turned out accordingly.”
Berg reached her kill total in 32 swings (.406 pct.) while also providing a team-best seven blocks. Next, outside Asha Regier(Newton, Kan.) had 10 kills and two solo stuffs, Neff provided 39 assists, five blocks and three kills with Wiese at 27 digs and three aces. Finally, right side Lauren Taubenheim (Lincoln Pius) had 19 digs with DS Addyson Mock (Stilwell, Kan.) at 14.
“Mia is having a great year. She gives us an offensive weapon and had a good blocking effort today. She’s physical and played a ton of volleyball and she is doing what we hoped she would do coming off a good freshman season,” said Squiers. “With a year under her belt, we’ve asked Mia to carry a heavier load and so far, she’s been doing that.”
Northwest was paced by Kirchhoefer (12 kills) and Kasidy Mohwinkle (10 kills, seven digs). These two teams meet again next month in Maryville.
