SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Omaha volleyball team collected nine all-league honors by six different Mavericks and the head coach, the league office announced on Wednesday morning.
Sadie Limback was named Player of the Year and
Sami Clarkson was named Setter of the Year, both also grab a spot on the All-Summit First Team.
McKenna Ruch,
Marriah Buss and
Jaiden Centeno represent the Mavericks on the All- Summit Honorable Mention Team, while
Shayla McCormick was tabbed to the All-Summit Freshman Team. Omaha was led by the Coach of the Year,
Matt Buttermore.
Limback finishes out her career at Omaha picking up a Player of the Year title, the first Maverick to do so. In the 2021 season Limback was named Summit League Offensive Player of the Week three times and also picked up her first career Defensive Player of the Week. Limback finished the regular season with 381 kills and a .335 hitting percentage placing her fourth in the league. In her senior season she recorded eight double-doubles and a new career record tallying 21 digs in the regular season finale.
Clarkson is the second in Omaha history to be named Summit League Setter of the Year. Clarkson led the Maverick offense with 1,120 assists and averaged 10.98 assists per set, sitting her second in the league. The Omaha setter had 15 games tallying 40 or more assists, with three of those matches having over 50 assists. She is also the team leader in service aces with 28 on the season. The junior setter has recorded over 3,000 assists in her career so far at Omaha.
Ruch was chosen to the All- Summit Honorable Mention Team with a strong showing offensively and defensively. The sophomore made her way into the Mavericks starting lineup and has since put up eight games with a .400 or higher hitting percentage and totaled 128 kills. She also tallied 54.0 total blocks on the season and tied the Summit League season high blocks in a three-set match record with nine. Ruch earned herself the Defensive Player of the Week title two weeks in a row this season.
Buss earned a spot on the All- Summit Honorable Mention Team putting up double digit kills in 15 games. The outside hitter comes in second for Omaha in kills with 284 and averages 2.87 kills per set. Buss had a season high 19 kills in the Mavericks win in Denver helping them to the first ever regular season sweep. She has also put up 33.0 total blocks at the net.
Centeno was named to the All- Summit Honorable Mention Team as she pushes close to 400 digs on the season (397). She comes in at sixth in the league in number of digs after making her way into the libero spot and has averaged 3.89 digs per set. Centeno had a season high 31 digs and notched a new career high in aces with seven in a three-set match.
McCormick was selected to the All- Summit Freshman team after a dominant performance this season. The freshman outside has notched four double-doubles on the season and recorded eight games with double digit kills and 10 games with double digit digs. She put up a career high 16 kills while hitting a .325 in a win at South Dakota. McCormick has tallied 164 kills, 240 digs, 30 blocks and 26 aces in 97 sets played in her first season as a Maverick.
Buttermore picks up Coach of the Year as he leads the Mavericks to becoming the Summit League regular season champions for the first time in program history. In his third year as Omaha volleyball's head coach, Buttermore guided the team to a 19-9 overall record and a 16-2 conference record.
Omaha will head into the Summit League Championships as the number one seed with a first-round bye. The Mavericks with play the winner of Kansas City (4) vs. Oral Roberts (5) on Friday, Nov. 26 at 4:30 p.m. in Vermillion, S.D.
