Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- The Omaha volleyball team picked up a pair of 3-2 wins on Saturday at the Billiken Invitational, defeating Air Force (15-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-20, 15-12) and Canisius (25-15, 23-25, 24-26, 25-20, 15-12) at Chaifetz Pavilion. The Mavericks improve to 4-5 (0-0 Summit League on the season.

"We had a great team effort in both matches today, and that was really evident all weekend," head coach Rose Shires said. "Our blocking and defense put us in a position to win every match we were in.

"I saw us grow leaps and bounds today, and winning two five-set matches, especially with controlling the fifth set, was special for our emerging program. This has served as a big step for us as we learn how to be a winning Division I program."

MATCH 1: OMAHA 3, AIR FORCE 2
In the first match of the day, Omaha rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Air Force, 3-2.

Junior outside hitter Kelley Wollak led the way with 13 kills on .333 hitting, adding eight digs and two blocks. Freshman outside hitter Mackenzie Horkey posted a double-double with 10 kills and 18 digs, as well as three blocks.

Freshman Sydney O'Shaughnessy had a team-best 22 assists, helping the Maverick offense to a .240 attack percentage. Junior setter/rightside hitter Michaela Schimmer also had a strong performance, tallying a double-double on 17 kills and 10 digs while adding seven kills on .353 hitting and five blocks.

Junior middle blocker Megan Schmale matched Schimmer with five blocks of her own, and redshirt freshman middle blocker Amanda Conlin put up a match-best seven blocks.

As a team, Omaha outhit Air Force, .240 to .216, and outblocked the Falcons, 15.5-2.0. The effort was UNO's most blocks since Oct. 6, 2012, when the Mavs had 17 stops against Oakland.

Air Force was led by four players with double-figure kills: Maggie Sherrill (14), Akokwe Clement (13), Taylor Parker (11) and Shelley Spires (10). Hillary Keltner had a double-double with 51 assists and 11 digs.

In the third set, the Mavs hit just .135 but snagged the 25-23 win to stave off a sweep. With UNO up 22-21, Parker registered two straight kills to put the Falcons ahead, 23-22. The Mavericks capitalized, however, using a block by Conlin and Schimmer to tie it and forcing two more errors to grab the win.

In the fourth set, the Omaha attack came alive to hit .379. Schmale was one of UNO's offensive weapons, putting down five kills on .714 hitting with no attack errors. Omaha worked out to an 18-10 lead and never allowed the Falcone to get within more than five points of threatening. Schmale had the final say in the set, as her kill sealed the 25-20 win to send it to a fifth game.

In the deciding set, another strong offensive push led UNO to a .350 attack percentage en route to a 15-12 win. Wollak notched four kills to hit. .571 in the game. Down one, Omaha knotted the score at 11-11 on a Horkey kill, then went up by two on back-to-back blocks from Conlin/Schimmer and Conlin/Horkey. Air Force scored its final point with a Sherrill kill, but the Mavericks took control from there with back-to-back kills from Conlin and Wollak to earn the match victory.

MATCH 2: OMAHA 3, CANISIUS 2
The Mavericks' afternoon matchup with Canisius was more back-and-forth. Omaha opened with a 25-15 win in the first game behind .371 team hitting, aided by Wollak's five kills on a .444 attack percentage and Horkey's five kills on a .333 effort. The Golden Griffins were held to a .000 team attack percentage.

Canisius came back to take the next two sets, 25-23 and 26-24. The Mavericks evened it at 2-2 with a 25-20 win in the fourth game, paced by seven more kills from Wollak, who hit .538 for the set.

Omaha put it away in the fifth and final set, defeating the Golden Griffins 15-12 for the 3-2 win. The Mavs ran out to a 10-4 advantage with back-to-back kills from O'Shaughnessy and Wollak, forcing a Canisius timeout. The Golden Griffins then pulled within one with an ace to make it 12-11, but a Schimmer kill put UNO back on track. After going up 14-12, Omaha finished it off with a Schimmer kill for the victory.

Wollak and Horkey both tallied double-doubles in the second match. Wollak finished with a match-leading, career-high 23 kills and 16 digs, and Horkey posted 14 kills and 16 digs. O'Shaughnessy accounted for another double-double on 38 assists and 14 digs, and Schimmer added 11 assists and four blocks.

Conlin led Omaha at the net again, finishing with a match-leading six blocks. As a team, the Mavericks' block party continued, as they outblocked Canisius, 14-6.

Canisius was led by Rachel Kline's double-double on1 4 kills and 20 digs, while Katlyn Tyler added 13 kills of her own. Grace Streicher also had a double-double with 39 assists and 12 digs.

Omaha closes the weekend with a record of 2-1 at the Billiken Invitational.

The Mavericks return to action on Friday, Sept. 19 at the Islanders Classic in Corpus Christi, Texas. They open with host Texas A&M Corpus Christi at 11 a.m., followed by a 5 p.m. match with Incarnate Word. Links to live stats and video will be available on OMavs.com.