This Weekend
The Omaha volleyball team has a light week with one match this weekend, visiting South Dakota State on Friday, Oct. 20. The match is set for 7 p.m. at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D., and links to live stats and video will be available on OMavs.com.
Quick Hits
•Omaha looks to snap its four-match losing skid on Friday. South Dakota State is on an eight-match losing streak, which started Sept. 22 at Omaha.
•Sophomore
Gessica Gdowski made her first career appearances at libero over two matches last weekend.
•
Abby Bergsten's 22 kills vs. Denver on Oct. 3 were the most of any Omaha player this season. It was also her second straight performance with 20+ kills, as she had 20 at Fort Wayne on Oct. 1.
•Omaha has had six double-figure block performances as a team this year.
•The Mavericks welcomed 10,525 fans to the Omaha Challenge over three days at Baxter Arena, Sept. 14-16. The tournament finale saw a crowd of 5,351 fans for the match between No. 10 Nebraska and Omaha, marking the largest volleyball crowd in Baxter Arena history.
•Omaha was picked to finish in a tie for fifth in the 2017 Summit League Preseason Poll. It finished seventh in the league standings in 2016.
•Head coach
Rose Shires, the winningest coach in program history, is in her 28th year at Omaha.
•Senior
Sydney O'Shaughnessy has led the Mavericks in double-doubles each of the last three seasons with 19 in her freshman campaign, 24 as a sophomore and 13 more as a junior. Her 66 career double-doubles are the most of any active Maverick.
•O'Shaughnessy is the only Maverick with All-Summit honors on her resume, as she was a 2015 all-league performer.
•Omaha returns eight letterwinners, including four starters, from 2016.
•All-time, Omaha is 1,025-607-7.
Scouting the South Dakota State Jackrabbits
South Dakota State enters the weekend with a record of 2-19 (0-8 Summit League) after a 3-0 loss at North Dakota State on Tuesday. Ashlynn Smith leads SDSU with 2.42 kills per set, while Macy Smith has a team-best 0.71 blocks per set.
Head coach Nicole Cirillo is in her third season with the Jackrabbits with a career record of 12-69.
Omaha leads the all-time series with South Dakota State, 40-20. Their last meeting was Sept. 22 at Baxter Arena, where the Mavericks won 3-0 to open Summit League play.
Last Time Out: Mavericks Suffer 3-0 Setback at ORU
Omaha suffered a setback at the hands of league leader Oral Roberts Sunday afternoon, falling 3-0 (7-25, 19-25, 17-25) at the ORU Aerobics Center. Senior
Amanda Conlin made her first start since Sept. 15, finishing with a season-high-tying five kills and three blocks, both of which led the Mavericks. Freshman
Anna Blaschko matched Conlin at the net with three more blocks alongside four kills.
Senior
Sydney O'Shaughnessy had 15 assists, and sophomore
Gessica Gdowski put up seven digs in her second straight match playing libero.
Sydney's Smashing Milestones
Senior
Sydney O'Shaughnessy is making her mark in the record books, as she has 3,922 career assists to her credit to rank fifth in school history. Her next target on the list is Kylie Lebeda (2000-03), who had 3,951.
O'Shaughnessy also moved into the top 20 in Summit League history for career assists earlier this year, and she is now 13th on the list.
O'Shaughnessy passed both the 1,000 career digs and 3,000 career assists marks at the end of her junior season. She was the first Maverick since Amy Steffel (1993-96) to put up at least 3,000 assists and 1,000 digs in a career.
Digging In
Senior
Sydney O'Shaughnessy sits five digs away from reaching the top 10 in school history, entering the week with 1,250 scoops to her credit. Kathy Knudsen (1982-85) occupies the 10th spot with 1,255 digs.
Junior
Mackenzie Horkey enters the week with 945 digs over her Maverick career, needing just 55 more to reach the 1,000 digs plateau.
Mack's Back
Junior
Mackenzie Horkey earned a medical redshirt after suffering a season-ending injury six matches into the 2016 season. The Jordan, Minn., native started the first six matches of 2016, averaging 3.35 kills and 3.55 digs per set.
In 2017, Horkey has picked up right where she left off, ranking second on the team with 2.63 kills per set alongside 10 double-figure kill efforts and eight double-doubles. She put up a season-high 17 kills with 13 digs vs. Indiana State (Sept. 2), then followed with 12 kills and a season-high 17 digs vs. Drake (Sept. 7).
Standout Starts in the Middle
Freshmen
Bella Sade and
Anna Blaschko have both had a standout start to their collegiate careers, and both have served as starting middle blockers for the Mavericks.
Sade leads the team with 0.97 blocks per set and is third with 2.46 kills per set while hitting .270. Her block assists (65) rank third among league players, while her blocking average is fourth and her total blocks (72) are fifth.
Blaschko matches Sade with a team-best 0.97 blocks per set and has averaged 1.86 kills per set with a team-high .277 hitting efficiency. Entering the week, she is the Summit League leader in solo blocks (21), fourth for blocks per set and fifth for total blocks (72).
2017 Slate Takes Mavericks Around the Nation
Omaha's 2017 schedule includes 27 matches against 20 different opponents, and the team will play in eight states across the country. UNO will square off with opponents from seven other conferences, with three from the Missouri Valley, two each from the Big Ten, Big 12 and Mountain West and one apiece from the MAC, Big Sky and Ohio Valley. Five opponents -- Nebraska, Iowa State, K-State, Northern Iowa and Denver -- played in the 2016 NCAA Tournament.
Entering 2017, the Mavericks had never faced three of their opponents: New Mexico, Kent State and Montana. UNO holds a combined all-time record of 192-178 over all teams on the slate this season.
Shires Guides Mavericks as Winningest Coach in School History
Head coach
Rose Shires is the all-time winningest coach in 47 years of UNO volleyball history. In her 28th year at the helm of the Maverick program, Shires owns a career record of 489-379 (.563), with the most wins of the five coaches who have served at Omaha.
The 1996 AVCA National Coach of the Year and a two-time conference coach of the year, Shires has enjoyed tremendous success as UNO's guide. The 1996 campaign saw her lead UNO to a national championship as well as its first North Central Conference championship since 1987, followed by an Elite Eight appearance in 1997. In NCAA Tournament play, Shires' squads have combined for 11 appearances and a 10-10 postseason mark.
Shires is assisted by assistant coach
Elena Pietro, who is in her third season, assistant coach
Micah Rhodes, in his first year, and volunteer assistant coach
Gina Mancuso, who is in her first year on the Maverick staff.
Up Next
Omaha returns home for a weekend home stand at Sapp Fieldhouse, welcoming Western Illinois on Friday, Oct. 27 and Fort Wayne on Saturday, Oct. 28. Friday's match is set for 7 p.m., while Saturday's will be played at 5 p.m. Links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com.
