Boxscore (PDF/HTML)

PEORIA, Ill. – The UNO volleyball team showed marked improvement in its second match of the day, but it was not enough as Nebraska Omaha fell to Bradley 3-1 (20-25, 25-16, 21-25, 15-25) at Renaissance Coliseum on Friday evening. With the loss, the Mavericks drop to 0-2 on the year, while BU improves to 1-0.

The Mavs did their part at the net, outblocking the Braves 12-9. Senior middle blocker Brittany Hanssen led the way with a career-high eight blocks, while junior middle blocker Lizzy Mach, junior outside hitter Sydney Fleege and senior setter Emily Myers each chipped in three apiece.

Offensively, Nebraska Omaha was paced by junior outside hitter Natalie Ebke's 12 kills on .211 hitting. Mach added nine kills of her own, and sophomore outside hitter Abby Sorensen contributed seven.

Myers finished with her first double-double of the year on 31 assists and 12 digs. 

Bradley was led offensively by Alise Tupuritis, who had 14 kills on .303 hitting, and Annie Cave, who had nine kills. The Braves hit .189 as a team to UNO's .116.

Bradley took the first set behind .429 hitting from Cave, who had four kills, along with four kills from Tupuritis. Myers started off the Mavericks with an ace, and the two squads exchanged points to knot the score early at 7-7. BU jumped out to a 14-9 lead, but a block from freshman middle blocker Jessy Schroedter and Mach soon cut it to 15-11. Later down five, UNO took advantage of three Brave errors and chipped in an Ebke kill to bring it within two 20-18. Myers and Hanssen then threw up a block to make it 20-19, but Bradley came back to take the set at 25-20.

UNO tied the match at 1-1 in the second set, surging out to a 4-0 lead with kills from Ebke, Schroedter and Sorensen. The Mavericks pushed it to 6-1 on another Ebke kill and a Bradley error, then went up 9-2 when Myers put up a solo block and Sorensen chipped in a score. Back-to-back blocks from Hanssen and Sorensen made it 11-3, and the Mavs took a 10-point advantage 17-7 an ace by Reicks a Braves timeout. The lead was more than doubled at 21-10, and a Mach kill pushed it to 22-11. Bradley looked on the verge of a rally when it mustered four straight points, but the Mavs halted the effort for a 25-16 win. With its performance, UNO also managed to outhit and outblock the Braves through the second game, helped by a .355 second-set attack percentage.

Game three saw the two teams trade leads, tying it early at 7-7. Two kills from Mach and one from Jansen put the Mavericks up 10-7, but Bradley came back to tie it again at 10-all, then made it 15-12 in its favor. The Braves went up 19-14 before UNO came back for two points with an Ebke kill and an ace by Hanssen. UNO ten cut it to 22-20 when Schroedter came in for a kill, and Fleege and Mach added a block. Bradley held on, however, taking the set at 25-21.

In the fourth and final set, UNO went up 3-1 on a block by Hanssen and Fleege. The Mavs rattled off four straight unanswered points, highlighted by a kill from Fleege and another Fleege-Hanssen block. Bradley battled back to tie it at 10-10, then regained the lead on a kill by Amy Angelos. The Braves used an 11-3 run to go up 21-13, then had a final 4-2 surge to seal the set at 25-15 and earn the match win.

“I felt once again that we played in surges,” Head Coach Rose Shires said. “We did a great job at about 80 percent of the match. Bradley made runs on us in the other 20 percent that pulled them away from us. Mentally, we just have to put together an entire match. I felt that we did dominate the blocking game, and it's something that I feel is a strength, as well as our pass and serve.”

UNO returns action on Saturday, Aug. 27, facing host Bradley in a rematch at 11 a.m. at Renaissance Coliseum.