Box Score OMAHA, Neb. -- The Omaha volleyball team celebrated Senior Day and its debut at Baxter Arena Sunday afternoon, sweeping Western Illinois 3-0 (25-16, 25-15, 25-18). With the win, the Mavericks improve to 14-11 (9-3 Summit League), while the Leathernecks drop to 3-24 (1-11 Summit League). The sweep also extended Omaha's win streak to five matches, its longest since earning five straight wins in 2010.

Senior rightside hitter Michaela Schimmer paced UNO with 10 kills while adding two blocks. Senior middle blocker Amy Taylor was close behind with nine kills on a .500 attack effort alongside a match-high six blocks.

Senior middle blocker Megan Schmale matched Taylor with nine kills of her own and added two aces and two blocks. Schmale now sits just nine block assists from breaking the school record held by Ruth Evans (1985-88), who had 436.

Sophomore setter Sydney O'Shaughnessy finished just shy of a double-double with a match-leading 35 assists and nine digs, along with three kills and two blocks. Senior libero Kimberly Bailey led the Mavericks defensively with a match-high 25 digs as well as a season-high eight assists. It marked Bailey's 10th 20-plus dig performance this year and brought her to a career total of 1,438 digs, which ties her for seventh in school history with former Maverick and current volunteer assistant coach Tanya Cate (1994-97).

Freshman outside hitter Gessica Gdowski also put together a solid effort, totaling eight kills, eight digs and three blocks.

As a team, Omaha hit .240 to WIU's .061 and outblocked the Leathernecks 9-6. Western was led by Peyton Crosser, who finished with team highs of eight kills and four blocks.

Schimmer did most of her damage in the opening set, registering six kills on .455 hitting. Taylor added another five kills for the Mavericks, going a perfect 5-for-5 for a 1.000 hitting efficiency with no attack errors. Omaha and Western Illinois battled point-for-point to a 13-13 tie before the Mavs pulled away with a 10-0 run that included a combined six kills from Schimmer, Gdowski and Taylor. Another Gdowski kill then made it 24-14, and after two WIU scores, O'Shaughnessy put it away with a quick kill for the 25-16 win.

In game two, Schmale took over as UNO's main target, posting four kills on .500 hitting. With the Mavericks trailing 7-6, Schmale's first and second kills of the set sandwiched a WIU attack error to push Omaha ahead 9-7. Back-to-back Schmale service aces, along with her third kill, later made it 12-8 and prompted the Leathernecks to take a timeout. From there, UNO went on an 11-5 spurt that brought it to 23-13. Two plays later, senior middle blocker Diane Banderas added a kill to make it set point, and another kill by Horkey capped it at 25-15 for a 2-0 match lead.

Eight Mavericks recorded at least one kill in the third set for a balanced offensive attack, led by four kills from Gdowski, who hit .444. Omaha dashed out to a 6-1 lead with the help of a combined five kills from Horkey, Schimmer and Gdowski. Back-to-back hammers from Taylor and Schmale then made it 8-2, and consecutive kills from junior outside hitter Elise Brown extended the lead to 10-4. After a Schmale kill and a bad set by WIU, the Leathernecks elected to take their second timeout of the game, and the Mavericks came out strong from the break with a Schmale/Horkey block to make it 13-5. Western trimmed UNO's lead to pull within two at 19-17, but Omaha quelled the threat with a 5-0 run off three kills by Gdowski and O'Shaughnessy, a Gdowski/Schmale block and a WIU ball handling error. Following a Western block, Schmale put it away with one last kill for the 25-18 set win and the 3-0 sweep.

Omaha returns to action next Friday, Nov. 6, hosting South Dakota State at Sapp Fieldhouse at 7 p.m. Links to live stats and video will be available on OMavs.com.