Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Box Score vs. Hartford (PDF/HTML)
Box Score vs. Navy (PDF/HTML)

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Omaha volleyball team continued its winning ways on Saturday, sweeping both matches against Hartford (25-20, 25-22, 25-20) and Navy (25-23, 25-14, 25-15) at Brown Field House. With the wins, UNO improves to 3-0 on the year and emerges as the winner of this weekend's Kristen Dickmann Invitational.

Over the two afternoon matches, freshman Kelley Wollak accounted for 22 kills, while senior Natalie Ebke had 19 kills, 23 digs, three service aces and four blocks. Freshman Michaela Schimmer added 14 kills on combined .429 hitting, while freshman Megan Schmale had 11 kills with a .526 attack percentage. Schimmer added four blocks, nine digs and 10 assists, and Schmale put up two stops of her own.

Freshman Kimberly Bailey had a team-leading 23 digs for the day, and freshman Bailey Baxter had 59 assists with 11 digs. Freshman Valerie Hecht, who paced UNO at the net in all three matches this weekend, totaled eight blocks for the afternoon.

For their efforts this weekend, Roberts and Baxter were both named to the all-tournament team, and Baxter was voted the tournament's most valuable player.

MATCH 1 – OMAHA 3, HARTFORD 0
In the first match, Ebke led the way with 13 kills, and Wollak also finished in double figures with 11 of her own. Bailey posted a team-leading 17 digs, and Baxter put up 26 assists.

UNO was led at the net with four blocks from Hecht, as well as two from both Ebke and Taylor.  

Hartford's Kami Nethersole topped the Hawks with eight kills, while Taylor McCreery and Sareeta Nethersole had seven apiece. Jackie Tambouri finished with a double-double with 27 assists and 10 digs, and Nethersole chipped in another 12 digs.

As a team, Omaha outblocked Hartford 8-2 and hit .267 to the Hawks' .121.

The Mavericks opened with a 25-20 win, highlighted by five kills apiece from Ebke and Wollak and two blocks for both Hecht and Taylor.

The second set was highlighted by UNO's best hitting percentage of the match at .275. Ebke chipped in four kills, while Hecht and Schimmer had three each. With the score tied at 8-8, the Mavs went on a 5-0 run, helped by a pair of Schimmer kills, to go up 13-8. UNO then stretched it to 18-12, but Hartford came back to knot the tally at 18-all. Omaha finally took the lead at 21-20, hanging on for a 25-22 win with a final kill by Schimmer.

In game three, the Hawks again kept it close with a 10-10 tie. Two Hartford errors and three straight kills from Ebke and Wollak pushed UNO ahead 15-11, but the Hawks made it a one-point margin at 18-17 with three Maverick miscues and a pair of kills from McCreery and Nethersole. Leading 19-18, the Mavs limited Hartford to just two more points, with Hecht's final kill putting away the sweep with a 25-20 win.

MATCH 2 – OMAHA 3, NAVY 0
Wollak topped UNO in the second match, posting 11 kills on .391 hitting, and Schimmer contributed 10 kills with a .444 attack percentage, four digs, two blocks and an ace.

Ebke and Roberts each had 12 digs, while Baxter finished with 33 assists, and Hecht put up four blocks.

While holding Navy to a .152 attack percentage, Omaha hit .309, including an outstanding .440 in the final set. The Mavericks also outblocked the Midshipmen 7-4.

Navy opened the match by taking an early 10-5 lead, but UNO battled back, cutting it to 11-10 with back-to-back kills from Schimmer and Wollak and a ball handling error from the Midshipmen. Bailey's ace tied the score at 12-12, and the Mavericks took their first lead on a Navy attack error.

With the score knotted again at 16-16, two Wollak kills and another by Hecht spotted UNO a three-point advantage. Wollak and Schimmer put up back-to-back kills again to stretch it to 21-17, and the Mavs then brought it to game point at 24-19. Navy responded by making it 24-23 with the help of two kills from Carolyn Ewert, but Schimmer had the final say, putting down the last kill to seize the first set at 25-23.

Navy led again early in the second game, going up 7-4. Schmale and Wollak accounted for four straight kills that gave UNO the lead, starting a 9-1 Maverick run that brought the score to 14-9. In the last 16 plays, Omaha capitalized on six Navy errors to take a dominating 25-14 win.

Hitting .440 in the third game, UNO committed just two attack errors and had five aces at the serving line, including two from Ebke. After Navy scored first, the Mavs tied it at 1-1 with a Schimmer kill and never trailed for the remainder of the set. Schimmer's service ace and a kill from Baxter pushed it to 7-4, and though the Midshipmen made it a one-point game, the Mavs responded by taking it out to 17-11. UNO never allowed Navy within less than five points, going up by as much as nine by 24-15 with a Schimmer kill. Omaha went on to take the game at 25-15, earning the 3-0 sweep.

Omaha returns to action at the Kansas Volleyball Invitational, Aug. 31 - Sept. 1, in Lawrence, Kan. The Mavericks open with two matches on Friday, facing Arkansas State at 9 a.m. and Sam Houston State at 4:30 p.m., followed by a Saturday finale against Tulsa at 11:30 a.m. Links to live stats will be available on OMavs.com.