Box Score OMAHA, Neb. -- The Omaha volleyball team dropped a five-set battle Friday evening, falling 3-2 (25-14, 24-26, 25-17, 23-25, 6-15) to Fort Wayne at Sapp Fieldhouse. The Mavericks are now 9-10 (4-2 Summit League) on the year, while the Mastodons improve to 6-16 (3-4 Summit League).
Senior outside hitter
Kelley Wollak led the way with 19 kills and 10 digs for her eighth double-double of the season. The Bloomington, Minn., native hit .333 for the night and added three aces, two assists and a block. Sophomore setter
Sydney O'Shaughnessy tallied her team-leading 12th double-double on 53 assists and 19 digs with four kills, an ace and a solo block, and sophomore outside hitter
Mackenzie Horkey got her sixth double-double this season with 10 kills and 10 digs.
Senior middle blocker
Megan Schmale added 13 kills with two blocks, which moved her up to fourth all-time for career block assists (395). Senior libero
Kimberly Bailey totaled 12 digs for the night, and senior middle blocker
Amy Taylor rounded it out with a team-best five blocks and nine kills as well.
As a team, Omaha outhit Fort Wayne .230 to .191, while the Mastodons narrowly outblocked the Mavericks 9-8.
IPFW was led by two players with double-doubles performances in Madison Jaqua (44 assists/11 digs) and Somer Johnson (13 kills/17 digs). Three other players had double-figure kill performances: Sarah Heckman (12), Nicole Rightnowar (10) and Natalie Seiler (10).
Omaha's offense shined in the first set, as the Mavericks hit a scalding .481 as a team. Breaking past a 6-6 tie, UNO went on an 8-2 run to go up 14-8. Later, two Mastodon errors and a Schimmer kill forced an IPFW timeout at 22-13, after which back-to-back kills by Schimmer and Wollak brought it to game point at 24-13. Two plays later, Taylor put down the last kill of the set and gave Omaha the win, 25-14.
Game two saw both teams hit over .300, with UNO coming in at .308 and IPFW at .353. Tied 14-14, Omaha pushed ahead to 18-14 on consecutive kills by Wollak and Taylor, an O'Shaughnessy ace and a Taylor/Schimmer block. Another Taylor kill and an IPFW ball handling error then gave UNO a five-point lead at 20-15, but the Mastodons' ensuing run shaved the margin to 22-21 to prompt a Maverick timeout. Fort Wayne tied the set at 23-all on a Heckman/Rightnowar block, then regained the lead with an ace by Clair Marshall. Following a Maverick timeout, the two teams traded kills, but IPFW took the second set 26-24 with a block by Heckman and Monica Hall.
Facing a 1-1 match, the Mavericks put together a solid third set, working past another early 4-4 tie. They took their largest lead of the set at 18-10 on a Wollak kill, then pushed it to 21-14 on back-to-back hammers by Wollak and Horkey. Another Horkey kill made it 22-15, and shortly thereafter Wollak and Taylor each pounded another kill to hit set point at 24-16. Two plays later, a Mastodon service error capped it for Omaha, which earned a 25-17 win to lead the match 2-1.
Even offense in the fourth game had Fort Wayne hitting .178 to Omaha's .170. The set stalled at 9-9, but the Mavericks claimed the lead with a Schimmer/Schmale block and an IPFW attack error. UNO held on to its advantage until Fort Wayne knotted it again at 18-18, prompting four more ties to bring the tally to 22-22. IPFW then registered back-to-back aces to go up by two, and despite a Wollak kill immediately after, the Mastodons took the fourth set 25-23 on a Maverick attack error, tying the match at two games apiece.
Fort Wayne came out swinging in the deciding game, running out to an 11-2 lead. The Mastodons had four team blocks and hit .462 while limiting Omaha to a -.158 effort, eventually taking the set 15-6 and the match 3-2.
Omaha returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 17, welcoming IUPUI at 5 p.m. at Sapp Fieldhouse. Links to live stats and video will be available on OMavs.com.