OMAHA, Neb. -- The Maverick volleyball program enters Summit League play with a pair of home matches against North Dakota and North Dakota State. Omaha takes on the Fighting Hawks this Friday, Sept. 27, at 7 p.m. and follows with a Sunday, Sept. 29, match against North Dakota State at 1 p.m., respectively.
OPENING SERVE
• Omaha carries a 7-7 record into the start of Summit League action.
• The Mavericks finished 1-2 over the weekend at the GCU Invite with a win over CSUN (3-2) and a pair of five-set losses to Idaho and Grand Canyon.
• During that weekend,
Anna Blaschko garnered GCU Invite All-Tournament honors after she averaged 3.27 kills per set on .396 hitting. She also tallied a career-high of 19 kills in the loss against Grand Canyon.
• The Mavericks aim to start conference play strong like last season, where the team opened league action with seven-straight wins - it's best in the Division I era.
• Omaha opens the conference season at home for the first time since the 2017 season.
• The Mavericks aim to start fresh after they dropped three of their last four and five of their last seven matches in the difficult schedule.
• Omaha's
Claire Mountjoy ranks third in the league with 4.46 digs per set and second overall with 232 total digs this season. The libero tallied a season-high of 29 digs for the second time, most recently against Grand Canyon.
• Through 14 matches,
Isabella Sade leads the Maverick offensive attack with 3.43 kills per set.
Sadie Limback,
Anna Blaschko and
Claire Leonard follow with 2.84, 2.46 and 2.42 kills per set, respectively.
• Blaschko has a team-best .363 hitting percentage with the second-most kills on the team, 138.
THE FIVE-SET FIGHTERS
Omaha has seen six of its 14 matches go five sets this season, which includes its last four. The Mavericks aim to erase a skid of four-straight matches that have gone five sets. The last time a match did not go five sets for Omaha was on Sept. 14, where the Mavericks swept Drake at the Creighton Bluejay Invitational. In five-set matches, Omaha is 2-4.
SCOUTING NORTH DAKOTA
The Fighting Hawks carry an 8-6 record under first-year head coach Jeremiah Tiffin. North Dakota is coming off a 1-1 mark in their home tournament, where it defeated Eastern Washington in five sets and fell 3-0 to Akron. Those two matches marked the only non-conference for the Fighting Hawks this season. Omaha owns a 46-13 series record over North Dakota, which includes a sweep last season.
In 2018, the Mavericks swept North Dakota in both meetings. Omaha defeated UND 3-1 at home behind Limback's 16 kills. At the time, it boosted Omaha to a 5-0 conference mark. Later on the road, Omaha won in four sets again with another 16-kill performance for Limback, while Sade had 14 of her own. North Dakota is led by Ashley Bruegeman and Lydia Rutten, who average 2.98 and 2.23 kills per set, individually.
Libero McKenzie Damon leads the defensive efforts for the team with 3.56 digs per set - a mark that ranks fourth amongst league members. The Fighting Hawks enter league play with some momentum. North Dakota has won two of their last three matches and three of their last five. On the road, they are 2-4 this season.
SCOUTING NORTH DAKOTA STATE
The Bison enter the conference slate with a 5-7 overall record. North Dakota State is led by third-year head coach Jennifer Lopez, who owns a 33-36 overall record.
Last season, Omaha swept the Bison during the regular season: 3-2 on the road and 3-1 at home. The Mavericks, however, earned the No. 3 seed in the league tournament and were eliminated in the opening round by the No. 6-seeded Bison, 3-1. Omaha edges NDSU in the all-time series, 45-43.
In 12 matches of play, NDSU is led by the trio of Alexis Bachmeier (2.66 k/s), Allie Mauch (2.24 k/s) and Kalli Hegerle (2.11 k/s) on the offensive end. Defensively, the Bison are anchored by Bella Lien's 0.91 blocks per set and Kaylee Hanger's 3.27 digs per set.
LOOKING AHEAD
Omaha volleyball continues the Summit League swing with a pair of road matches at Oral Roberts Tuesday, Oct. 1, and at South Dakota Friday, Oct. 4. For more information, visit OMavs.com.
