This Weekend
The Omaha volleyball team opens Summit League play this 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, and tickets are available for purchase at OMavs.com/tix.
Quick Hits
•Omaha opened the season with four 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), before making their home debut with the Omaha Challenge (Sept. 14-16).
•The Mavericks welcomed 10,525 fans to the Omaha Challenge over three days at Baxter Arena last weekend. 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 63 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 1,022-603-7.
Scouting the South Dakota State Jackrabbits
South Dakota State enters the weekend with a record of 2-11 (0-0 Summit League) after a 3-1 win over UMKC last Saturday, which snapped an 11-match losing skid. Makenzie Hennen leads SDSU with 2.53 kills per set, while Macy Smith has a team-best 0.70 blocks per set.
Head coach Nicole Cirillo is in her third season with the Jacks and totes a career record of 12-61.
Omaha leads the all-time series with SDSU, 39-20. Their last meeting came Nov. 4, 2016 at Sapp Fieldhouse, where the Mavericks won 3-2.
Last Time Out: Mavericks Cap Omaha Challenge, Fall to No. 10 Nebraska
Omaha met in-state foe Nebraska for the first time since 1990 last Saturday night, falling 3-0 (24-26, 15-25, 13-25) in the finale of the Omaha Challenge in front of 5,351 fans at Baxter Arena.
Junior
Mackenzie Horkey was named to the all-tournament team and led the Mavericks with nine kills in addition to six digs and a block. Senior
Sydney O'Shaughnessy finished just shy of a double-double with 23 assists and a team-leading nine digs, as well as four kills, one block and an ace.
Freshman
Bella Sade had a solid night at the net, posting a match-high four blocks. Sophomore
Meagen Roth added two more stops with seven kills and eight digs.
The Huskers hit .327 to Omaha's .118, and the two teams were even at the net with six blocks apiece.
Mavericks Take All-Tournament Honors
Over the opening month of play, five 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 with a spot on the Drake Invitational All-Tournament Team (Sept. 7-9), averaging 3.18 kills, 0.64 digs and 0.45 blocks per set. She achieved a season-high 15 kills vs. Montana, hitting .343.
Junior
Mackenzie Horkey was the last Maverick to earn all-tournament plaudits, as she earned a spot on the team at the Omaha Challenge last weekend. Horkey averaged a team-best 2.00 kills and 2.18 digs per set, and she had a double-double against UNI with 13 kills and 12 digs, followed by a team-high nine kills vs. No. 10 Nebraska.
Sydney's Smashing Milestones
Senior
Sydney O'Shaughnessy is making her mark in the record books, as she has 3,651 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 17th 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 2.50 kills per set with six double-figure kill efforts and four 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 a standout start to their collegiate careers, and both have served as starting middle blockers for the Mavericks over the first four weeks.
Sade is second on the team with 2.42 kills per set and has a team-leading 0.4 blocks per set while hitting .267. Her 19 kills vs. SEMO on Sept. 9 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 2.17 kills per set with a team-high .338 hitting efficiency and is second on the team with 0.88 blocks per set. Entering this weekend, she is the Summit League leader in solo blocks (13).
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 189-174 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 486-375 (.564), 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 makes its first Summit League road swing next weekend, visiting Western Illinois on Friday, Sept. 29. The match is set for 7 p.m. in Macomb, Ill., and links to live stats and video will be available on OMavs.com.
