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OMAHA, Neb. – The Omaha volleyball team made its home debut on Tuesday night, sweeping past Syracuse 3-0 (29-27, 25-21, 25-19) in front of 823 fans at Sapp Fieldhouse. With the victory, the Mavericks improved to 4-3 on the year, while the Orange dropped to 3-4.

Freshman Kelley Wollak led UNO with 17 kills on .500 hitting, and senior Natalie Ebke had a double-double with 11 kills and 11 digs with three blocks. Redshirt freshman Bailey Baxter totaled 29 assists in guiding the Omaha offense to a .281 team attack percentage to Syracuse's .209. Baxter also contributed five of UNO's nine service aces for the night.

Freshman Michaela Schimmer chipped in 18 assists, eight kills and five digs, and senior Amy Roberts added 10 digs. UNO's leader at the net was redshirt freshman Valerie Hecht, who finished with a team-best four blocks and five kills.

Syracuse was led by Silvi Uattara, who had nine kills on .474 hitting, and Samantha Clarey, who had another eight kills. Setter Emily Betteridge put up 19 assists and a pair of aces, and Lindsay McCabe had a match-best five blocks.

Wollak set the pace for UNO in the first set, going 5-for-6 on the attack. The Mavs opened with a 4-0 run on a Hecht kill, two Baxter aces and a Syracuse error, then stretched it to 9-3. The Orange battled back to tie it at 11-11, but three Wollak kills and another from Schimmer, paired with Baxter's fourth ace, put it back in UNO control at 18-12. Hecht then put down another kill, and UNO forced three consecutive Orange errors to make it 22-13. Schimmer's kill then pushed it to 23-14, but Syracuse fought back with a nine straight points to knot it at 23-all. Spurred by its run and 10 straight serves from Betteridge, SU took their first lead at 24-23, but Schimmer's next kill tied the score again. Finally, down 27-26, UNO broke through with three straight kills from Wollak, Hecht and sophomore Jessy Schroedter to take the opening set thriller at 29-27.

In set two, the scored tied six times early in the game, but Omaha never allowed Syracuse to gain a lead. At 7-7, an Orange attack error and a Wollak kill gave UNO its first advantage at 9-7. The Mavericks then worked out to a 15-9 lead and stretched it to another six-point advantage by 18-12. Ebke totaled seven kills in the second game alone, and four late scores maintained UNO's control and helped Omaha to the 25-21 win and a two-game lead.

Syracuse hit at a strong .462 clip in the final set, but it was not enough to best the surging Mavericks, who finished with an outstanding .552 attack percentage in the third game. Wollak put down seven kills to lead the squad, and UNO committed just two hitting errors in the set. Facing a stalled score at 8-8, Omaha took a 17-11 lead with kills from four different Mavericks, including back-to-back scores from Schimmer and Ebke. Syracuse cut it to 19-17, but a Wollak kill and a Baxter ace kept the Orange at bay. Two more kills from Wollak and a final one by Schimmer capped the night with a 25-19 win and the match sweep.

Omaha returns to action Sept. 7-8 at the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn/Doubletree Hotel Invitational on the Missouri State campus in Springfield, Mo. The Mavericks open with Northern Illinois on Friday at 10 a.m., followed by two Saturday matches against Connecticut (10 a.m.) and New Orleans (5 p.m.) Links to live stats will be available on OMavs.com.