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OMAHA, Neb. – The Omaha volleyball team opened conference play Friday night, falling 3-0 (16-25, 23-25, 16-25) to South Dakota State in front of 607 fans at Sapp Fieldhouse. With the loss, the Mavericks are 5-6 (0-1 Summit League) on the year, while the Jackrabbits improve to 8-3 (1-0 Summit League). The match was the first official home Summit League contest among all of UNO's athletic teams.

Freshman Kelley Wollak led Omaha with a match-best 10 kills, eight digs and a block, and senior Natalie Ebke added nine kills with six digs. Redshirt freshman Bailey Baxter finished with her third double-double of the season on match-leading 27 assists and 11 digs with four kills, while two other Mavericks also totaled double-figure digs: redshirt freshman Kimberly Bailey (13) and senior Amy Roberts (10).

At the net, freshman Megan Schmale tallied a pair of blocks and four kills, and redshirt freshman Valerie Hecht added a block with four kills for the night.

South Dakota State was paced by Bailey Philippot's 10 kills on .333 hitting with five blocks. Lexi Fowler had 17 assists and Sydney Howard added 10 in helping the Jackrabbits to a .222 attack percentage. Three SDSU player also had double-figure digs: Shay Birath (20), Margit Hansing (19) and Kelly Herrmann (10). Kelli Fiegen chipped in a team-leading seven blocks, and the Jacks finished with 11 total team blocks to UNO's three.

Omaha returns to action on Saturday, Sept. 15, hosting two-time defending conference champion North Dakota State. The match is set for a 5 p.m. start at Sapp Fieldhouse, and links to live stats and live video will be available on OMavs.com.