Box Score Boxscore

LAWRENCE, Kan. – The UNO volleyball team dropped a 3-0 sweep to Kansas with set scores of 20-25, 16-25, 26-28 at the Horejsi Center on Tuesday evening. With the loss, the Mavericks are 4-17 on the year, while KU improves to 12-4.

UNO was led by junior outside hitter Natalie Ebke's 11 kills and senior setter Emily Myers, who had a match-leading 25 assists. Senior libero Angie Reicks, who recently became UNO's all-time leader in career digs, added to her program-leading total with 10 digs for the night, improving her four-year mark to 1,799.

As a team, UNO outblocked the Jayhawks 8.5 to 5.0, helped by five blocks apiece from senior middle blocker Brittany Hanssen and sophomore outside hitter Abby Sorensen.

Kansas was paced by 14 kills from Allison Mayfield and had two players with double-figure digs – Brianne Riley (20) and Allison Mayfield (16).

KU went up 14-9 in the first set, UNO came back with a 7-2 run to tie the game at 16-all. Back to back kills from Hanssen and Ebke gave the Mavs their first lead of the day and forced a Jayhawk timeout in between the action. KU, however, regained control and went up 23-19. UNO managed one more score before Caroline Jarmoc finished the set with a kill to give Kansas the 25-20 win.

KU took an early 6-4 lead in the second game, then extended its advantage to 10-6 before three straight Jayhawk errors that kept the Mavs in the hunt at 10-9. A 10-1 run in favor of Kansas then made it 20-10, and KU was poised to take the set with a 24-12 score. Three more KU errors and a kill from Ebke made it 24-16, but a final error by UNO gave the home team the set win at 25-16.

In the third set, Nebraska Omaha took the first score, and kills by Hanssen and Ebke kept the game tied at 3-3. UNO then led 7-4, but a kill by Albers, a service ace and an attack error tied the game at seven-all. The two teams traded scores, and UNO regained the lead at 16-14 with three straight kills by Myers, Ebke and Hanssen.

A kill by KU's Chelsea Albers knotted the score again at 17-17, but Ebke put down another kill to put UNO ahead again. The Mavericks then went up 23-20 on three straight kills from Sorensen, junior outside hitter Sydney Fleege and junior middle blocker Lizzy Mach, and a block by Mach and Fleege made it game point at 24-20. KU responded with four straight points to tie it at 24-24, and the two teams traded leads for the next four serves. Two final kills from Mayfield and Tayler Tolefree put it away for the Jayhawks, with KU earning the 28-26 win and the match sweep.

“I was pleased with our performance on the road against a Big 12 opponent,” Head Coach Rose Shires said. "I was especially pleased with our blocking game, having outblocked them 8.5 to five. That demonstrated our discipline in technique and desire to own the net against Kansas. We were disappointed we couldn't pull out a win in the third set, but our performance outside the third set is in line with what my expectations are of my team.”

UNO returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 8, traveling to Central Missouri. The match is slated for a 6:30 p.m. start at The Multipurpose Building in Warrensburg, Mo.

Notes
-KU had two ties to UNO: freshman outside hitter Chelsea Albers is the sister of current Maverick men's basketball player Mitch Albers and former Maverick Tyler Albers; freshman outside hitter Sara McClinton is the daughter of former three-time volleyball All-American Ruth Evans (1986-88).
-UNO has outblocked its opponent in 12 matches this season.
-Natalie Ebke's double-figure kill performance with 11 kills was her 13th such performance of the year.