OMAHA, Neb. - In their first home conference match of the season, the Mavericks snapped a three-game losing streak with a 3-0 sweep of Western Illinois University late Thursday night.

Omaha improves to 6-7 and picks up its first Summit League victory of the season (1-2). As for the Leathernecks, they drop to 4-12 and remain winless in the conference at 0-4. 

Set by Set (25-20, 25-16, 25-23)

• The Mavericks got the day started with a 6-0 scoring run and never looked back. McKenna Ruch scored three of those points with a trio of kills, while Shayla McCormick added one of her own. Sami Clarkson also notched two service aces during the run. Omaha maintained a steady attack throughout the rest of the set, with Kali Jurgensmeier picking up four kills and Ruch and Rachel Fairbanks each scoring two. Brilee Wieseler also had a big set as she recorded the first service ace of her career to give Omaha an 11-6 lead. While the Leathernecks did hang on to keep things close, eventually getting to within points late in the set as they only trailed 19-21, a few more kills from McCormick, Ruch, and Fairbanks made sure the Mavericks held on to take the set.
• After Western Illinois briefly held the lead at the beginning of set two at 4-3, the Mavericks immediately retook control after kills from Ruch and Morgan DeBow. Ruch would go on to pick up four more kills during the set, while Marriah Buss would contribute three of her own, plus a blocked shot. However, it was McCormick who truly dominated during the set, recording two-straight kills to give Omaha a 17-14 lead, before doubling down just a few moments later by getting four kills in a row to grow the lead to 22-15. She was not done yet, though, as McCormick would cap off the set with two more back-to-back kills to make it 25-16.
• Picking up right where she left off, McCormick opened set three with yet another kill. The Leathernecks, however, responded with four unanswered points. Omaha did manage to tie things up at 6-6, thanks to three kills from Buss, and briefly took the lead at 8-7 on a block from McCormick and DeBow. From there, each team jockeyed for control of the set, with neither one able to go up by more than two points and ending up tied at 20-20. Meanwhile, McCormick and Buss both added another three kills to their stat sheets, while Fairbanks added two more kills as well. Wieseler also scored her second ace of the day during this run. After a kill from Jurgensmeier gave Omaha a 21-20 lead, Buss followed with a torrid stretch, notching two-straight kills to give the Mavericks a 23-20 lead, before getting them to set point with another kill and eventually scoring the match point on her 10th kill of the set.

Inside the Box Score

• The Mavericks led the Leathernecks in nearly every category, holding the edge in points (68-41), kills (59-39), aces (5-4), blocks (4-3), assists (58-29), digs (53-37), and attack percentage (.445-.269).
• The trio of McCormick, Buss, and Ruch each recorded at least 10 kills and owned an attack percentage of at least .400. McCormick led both categories with 17 kills and a .567 attack percentage.
• In addition to her first career service ace, Wieseler also set a career high with 15 digs tonight, besting her previous record of 12 set last week.
• Olivia Curry tied her career highs in assists (16) and digs (4).
• On top of tying her season high in kills with seven, Fairbanks' .545 attack percentage was the second highest of her career (minimum 10 total attacks).

Up Next
The Mavericks continue their home stand this Saturday at 12:30 p.m. when they host St. Thomas in another Summit League tilt.