The third ranked UNK volleyball team hosted two tough opponents this week, making quick work, sweeping Emporia State Friday before facing rival Washburn on Saturday.
There were over 1,000 people in attendance at Saturday’s homecoming weekend match against the Ichabods.
Similar to the Missouri Western match last week, the Lopers had to battle to earn the three-set victory over 13-4 Washburn Saturday night to cap off the home stand. The Lopers won (25-23, 25-14, 26-24) to win their second straight over Washburn after dropping the previous six.
Junior Emilee Lane knew going into the match that they would have their hands full.
“They’ve (Washburn) lost some close ones so we knew it was going to be a battle and we came prepared,” Lane said. “I think our offense was really good. We had a lot of really good defensive plays that got the ball up to us and Peyton (Neff) could just give it to all the hitters which made the blockers guess on their side.”
The first set went back and forth with no team finding a rhythm. The longest run was just four straight points from Washburn. Both teams hit around .300 as both offenses dominated the defense. After the Lopers dominated the second set winning by 11, Washburn made it difficult for the Lopers to sweep. The Ichabods held leads of 21-18 and 22-20, but could not close out the set thanks to a late surge from Lane who had 11 of her career high 18 kills in the third set. The performance from Lane helped her win MIAA offensive athlete of the week.
Mia Berg added 17 kills and Peyton Neff kept the offense humming with 52 assists, averaging over 17 per set. Allie Wiese had another great day defensively with 18 digs.
Lane said they wouldn’t have been able to get the win without great defensive play and sets from Neff.
“She knows how to distribute the ball very well to keep all our hitters open,” Lane said. “I’m just trying to do whatever it takes for us to get the win, they were kind of challenging us on the blocking side, so I thought I would just challenge them as well.”
In the Emporia State match on Friday night, UNK rolled to a victory (25-22, 25-14, 25-14) with the Lopers only real trouble coming in the first set. UNK was down 12-8 midway through the first set, but would go on a five point run to take the lead and finish out the first with a victory.
Coach Rick Squiers, who now holds a 425-24 record at home, said they played pretty clean volleyball.
“We took a pretty good shot from them in the first set but from that point forward it seemed like we kind of took a few things away,” Squiers said. “I don’t think we saw what they’re fully capable of except for maybe the first set and then they kind of got knocked back on their heels and never seemed to be able to get back in a good rhythm.”
As of Oct. 13, the Lopers had the second best opponent hitting percentage in Division II, and that led the way again in UNK’s match against the Hornets, holding Emporia State to hitting just .034. That included hitting in the negatives in the second and third set.
Emilee Lane led the way for the Lopers in kills with twelve, Neff had 30 assists with Wiese adding 16 digs. Wiese currently ranks in the top 20 in Division II in digs per set.
UNK is now 19-0 on the year, and have won 57 of the 60 sets played. They hold sole possession of first place in the MIAA, and will take on Arkansas-Fort Smith at 6 p.m. Friday and second place Central Oklahoma (18-1) at 1 p.m. Saturday.
