OMAHA, Neb. -- The Omaha volleyball team knocked off conference leader Oral Roberts with a sweep Friday night, defeating the Golden Eagles 25-23, 25-11, 25-19 at Sapp Fieldhouse. With the win, the Mavericks improve to 10-16 (7-6 Summit League) on the season, while ORU drops to 14-12 (11-3).
 
Leaders for Omaha
Junior Mackenzie Horkey reached the 1,000 career digs milestone with her second scoop in the match. The Jordan, Minn., native finished with eight kills, 11 digs, a block and an ace.
 
Junior Abby Bergsten posted a team-leading 10 kills with three digs and a block, and freshman Anna Blaschko added eight kills on .727 hitting with no errors and a match-best five blocks. Senior Sydney O'Shaughnessy pitched in a match-leading 26 assists, nine digs, three kills, two blocks and four service aces, and freshman Bella Sade had five kills, four blocks and a match-high five aces.
 
Leaders for Oral Roberts
Oral Roberts was led by 15 kills from Laura Milos, while Megan Doran had a team-high three stops at the net.
 
Team Stats
Omaha hit .293 to ORU's .093 and outblocked the Golden Eagles, 9-4. The Mavericks finished with a season-high 14 aces, which marked their best effort in the Division I era.
 
Inside Set 1
The opening set stalled three times up to 11-11, after which ORU took the lead and worked up to a 22-19 advantage. But the Mavericks rallied from there, depositing a kill and an ace from Sade to force a Golden Eagle timeout at 22-21. An ORU attack error knotted the set at 22-all, but Milos came back with her sixth kill to put the opposition up by one. An ORU service error tied it once more, and Omaha capitalized from there, using a Meagen Roth ace and a Blaschko kill to win it, 25-23.
 
Inside Set 2
The Mavericks dominated in set two, hitting .391 to ORU's -.143 and outblocking the Golden Eagles, 5-0. Down 7-5, the Mavericks stormed back with a 6-0 run on kills from Bergsten and Gessica Gdowski, a Horkey ace and three blocks. Powered by a combined four aces between O'Shaughnessy and Claire Mountjoy, plus four kills, a 12-1 stretch then pushed the Omaha advantage to 23-9. Though ORU got a kill and an ace back, the Mavericks pounded down back-to-back kills from Bergsten and Horkey to cap the set at 25-11.
 
Inside Set 3
Omaha held a 4-1 blocking edge and never trailed in the third set. An 8-2 start forced an ORU timeout, and the Mavericks never let the Golden Eagles back in under six for the rest of the match. Back-to-back blocks from Sade and Amanda Conlin coupled with a Horkey kill spotted Omaha a 17-9 lead, and a Blaschko kill later pushed the Mavericks to a 20-12 advantage. ORU made a 5-0 run late with three kills from Milos, but a ball handling error out of a Maverick timeout sealed Omaha's set win, 25-19, and the match.
 
Noting Tonight's Match
-Tonight's win was Omaha's fourth sweep of the season. All four sweeps have come in league play.
-Omaha's 14 aces marked their highest total since 14 at St. Cloud State on Sept. 24, 2005.
-Sade's five aces tied Meagen Roth for the most of any Maverick this season. Roth previously had five vs. Western Illinois on Oct. 27.
 
Up Next
Omaha hosts North Dakota State on Sunday, Nov. 12 at Sapp Fieldhouse at 2 p.m. The match marks Senior Day for Sydney O'Shaughnessy and Amanda Conlin, and fans are encouraged to arrive early for festivities. Links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com.