This Weekend
After 10 games on the road, the Omaha volleyball team makes its home debut this weekend, hosting the Omaha Challenge, Sept. 14-16, at Baxter Arena. The Mavericks open with Kansas State on Thursday at 7 p.m., followed by Northern Iowa on Friday at 7 p.m. and No. 10 Nebraska on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are still available for purchase at OMavs.com/tix.
All three Omaha matches will have live stats, video and audio, while the three neutral matches will have live stats linked on OMavs.com.
Quick Hits
•Omaha opened the season with three straight weekend tournaments, first at the Iowa State Challenge (Aug. 25-26), then the Hawkeye Classic (Sept. 1-2) and the Drake Tournament (Sept. 7-9).
•Omaha and Nebraska have not faced each other since head coach
Rose Shires' first year as a head coach in 1990.
•Nebraska and K-State are the Mavericks' second opponents this season from the Big Ten and Big 12, respectively.
•UNI is Omaha's third opponent from the MVC this season. The Mavericks have a 2-1 advantage against MVC competition.
•Omaha was picked to finish in a tie for fifth in the 2017 Summit League Preseason Poll. UNO 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 61 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 1,022-600-7.
Scouting the Kansas State Wildcats
Kansas State enters the weekend with a record of 5-5 (0-0 Big 12) after a 3-1 win over UMKC Tuesday night. The Wildcats snapped a four-match losing skid after going 2-1 at last weekend's Georgia Tech Invitational, defeating North Florida (3-1) and Xavier (3-0) before falling to Georgia Tech (3-2).
Kylee Zumach leads K-State with 3.12 kills per set, and the Wildcats are hitting .259 as a team this season, which ranks 40th nationally.
Head coach Suzie Fritz is in her 17th season at K-State, toting a career record of 316-178.
Thursday marks the 16th meeting all-time between Omaha and K-State, with the Wildcats leading 9-6 and carrying a nine-match win streak in the series. The two teams last squared off on Sept 22, 2012 in Manhattan, Kan., where the then-11th ranked Wildcats won 3-0.
Scouting the Northern Iowa Panthers
Northern Iowa enters the weekend with a record of 8-3 (0-0 MVC), having knocked off No. 19 Iowa State 3-2 Tuesday night on the road. The Panthers went 2-1 at last weekend's Kangaroo Klassic, topping Rutgers (3-0) and South Dakota (3-1) before falling 3-1 to host UMKC (3-1).
Karlie Taylor paces UNI with 4.02 kills per set, which ranks 38th nationally, while Heather Hook's 11.45 assists per set are 22nd. As a team, the Panthers are sixth nationally for kills per set (14.97), ninth for assists per set (13.95) and 11th for digs per set (18.24).
Head coach Bobbi Petersen is in her 18th season at UNI and carries a career record of 435-132.
Friday marks the eighth meeting all-time between Omaha and UNI, and the Panthers lead the series, 4-3. Their last meeting was Sept. 9, 2016 in Kansas City, Mo., where UNI won 3-0.
Scouting the No. 10 Nebraska Huskers
No. 10 Nebraska brings a record of 5-2 (0-0 Big Ten) into the Omaha Challenge after recording back-to-back sweeps of then-No. 11 UCLA last weekend at the Devaney Center. Mikaela Foecke leads the Huskers with 3.54 digs per set, while Briana Holman averages a team-best 1.38 blocks per set to rank 44th in the country. As a team, NU has limited its opponents to a .127 hitting percentage, which is the 10th-lowest nationally.
Head coach John Cook is in his 18th season at Nebraska and carries a record of 504-67 and a career mark of 665-140 over 25 years.
Saturday marks the 28th meeting all-time between Omaha and Nebraska and its first in nearly three decades. The Huskers lead the series 24-3 and won the last matchup 3-0 on Sept. 1, 1990.
Schedule Set for This Weekend's Omaha Challenge
This weekend's Omaha Challenge features four teams playing six matches over three days at Baxter Arena. No. 10 Nebraska headlines the field, having made its 35th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and a second straight Final Four trip in 2016 while finishing 31-3. Kansas State earned its third straight NCAA Tournament berth last season and compiled a record of 21-10, while UNI achieved its second straight NCAA Tournament and was 24-10.
2017 OMAHA CHALLENGE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Sept. 14
Kansas State vs. Omaha - 7 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 15
Nebraska vs. Kansas State - 4:30 p.m.
Northern Iowa vs. Omaha - 7 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 16
Northern Iowa vs. Nebraska - Noon
Kansas State vs. Northern Iowa - 5:30 p.m.
Nebraska vs. Omaha - 7:30 p.m.
Last Time Out: Sade Sparks Omaha to 3-1 Win Over SEMO
Omaha rallied for a 3-1 victory over Southeast Missouri last Saturday, closing its weekend at the Drake Invitational at the Knapp Center. Freshman
Bella Sade tallied season highs of 19 kills and seven blocks to lead the Mavericks. Freshman
Anna Blaschko joined her with 13 kills on .500 hitting, while junior
Abby Bergsten added 13 kills and sophomore
Meagen Roth had another 11. Roth added nine digs, narrowly missing a double-double.
Senior
Sydney O'Shaughnessy guided the offense with 50 assists and chipped in seven digs and two aces. Freshman
Claire Mountjoy finished with a match-high 15 digs, and sophomore
Gessica Gdowski had another 10 scoops with a pair of aces.
Mavericks Take All-Tournament Honors
Over the opening three weeks of play, four Mavericks have earned all-tournament recognition.
Freshman
Claire Mountjoy opened her career at the Cyclone Invitational (Aug. 25-26), averaging 5.56 digs per set. Mountjoy appeared in all nine sets over the weekend and tallied double-figure digs in all three matches: 18 vs. New Mexico, 15 at Iowa State and 17 vs. Kent State. For her performance, the Elkhorn, Neb., native was named to the Cyclone Invitational All-Tournament Team.
Senior
Sydney O'Shaughnessy and freshman
Bella Sade both took home the hardware at the Hawkeye Classic (Sept. 1-2), as both were named to the all-tournament team. O'Shaughnessy averaged 10.25 assists, 2.83 digs, 0.42 blocks, 0.67 aces and 1.00 kills per set for the weekend, adding a pair of double-doubles and reaching a career high with 59 assists vs. Indiana State. Sade averaged 2.75 kills and 0.75 blocks per set while hitting .368 over three matches.
Junior
Abby Bergsten picked up recognition last weekend with a spot on the Drake Invitational All-Tournament Team last weekend, averaging 3.18 kills, 0.64 digs and 0.45 blocks per set. She achieved a season-high 15 kills vs. Montana, hitting .343.
Sydney's Smashing Milestones
Senior
Sydney O'Shaughnessy is making her mark in the record books, as she has 3,554 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 last weekend, as she is now 19th 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.
Mack's Back
Junior outside hitter
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, averaging a team-leading 2.69 kills per set with five double-figure kill efforts and three 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
Freshmen
Bella Sade and
Anna Blaschko have both had standout starts to their collegiate careers, as both have served as starting middle blockers for the Mavericks over the first three weeks.
Sade is second on the team with 2.62 kills per set and has a team-leading 0.89 blocks per set while hitting .309. Her 19 kills vs. SEMO last Saturday were the second-highest total of any Maverick this season, while her seven blocks were also the second-highest single-match mark by a UNO player.
Blaschko has averaged 2.27 kills per set with a .352 hitting efficiency and is second on the team with 0.78 blocks per set.
What Makes Up the Mavericks
•Omaha returns eight letterwinners from the 2016 season, including four starters.
•UNO returns 53 percent of its total offensive production from last season, as this year's returners accounted for 725 of the Mavericks' 1,366 kills.
•The Mavericks also return 72 percent of their total blocking production from last year, with the returners credited for 237 out of 331 stops.
•Dousette is UNO's top returning hitter, having averaged 3.00 kills per set last year.
•Dousette was named to the 2016 Summit League All-Freshmen Team.
•The Mavericks are made up of five freshmen, five sophomores, two juniors and two seniors.
•Omaha's roster includes six players from Nebraska, three from Minnesota, two from Iowa and one apiece from Illinois, Arizona and Virginia.
Dousette Doing Her Part
Sophomore outside hitter
Chloe Dousette had a delayed start to her freshman season due to injury, but finally hit the court last September and never looked back. The St. Paul, Minn., native went on to earn Summit League All-Newcomer Team recognition after appearing in 15 matches with seven starts, and she averaged 3.00 kills per set with nine double-figure kill efforts. Dousette led the Mavericks in kills in 10 of the last 12 matches of the year.
Dousette made her 2017 season debut at the Hawkeye Classic (Sept. 1-2) and had an immediate impact, helping the Mavericks to a pair of wins over Indiana State. In the first match against the Sycamores, Dousette had 11 kills with 12 digs, and she followed that with another double-double on 21 kills and 14 digs with two blocks and three aces.
Dousette's 21-kill effort matched her career high, and she owns the Omaha's last four 20+ kill performances, having tallied three as a freshman.
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 have never faced three of their opponents: New Mexico, Kent State and Montana. UNO holds a combined all-time record of 189-171 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 486-372 (.566), 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 opens Summit League play on Friday, Sept. 22, welcoming South Dakota State to Baxter Arena at 7 p.m. Links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com.
