The Omaha challenge was last week and I was there for all but one game. Nebraska, Kansas State, Northern Iowa all went 2-1 in the competition while the host UNO went 0-3. However, that’s getting ahead of myself. Let’s first start off with the games.
→ Kansas St. vs. Omaha (2017-09-14)
Game 1. Kansas State and Omaha. The Wildcats have fallen off a bit from their typical results. Usually, near Top 25 status, ViPR started off the week rating the Wildcats around the sixty mark. Omaha started off just beyond 210th. Neither team was particularly clean during the match, but Kansas State’s superior talent did show throughout. Omaha, for their part, played above their predicted level and won the second set handily. Setter Sydney O’Shaughnessy was the star for the Mavericks and did her part taking the second spot in the WPA Top Performers and contributing thirty-four assists and twenty digs. Bryna Vogel of KSU took Top Performer awards in the top spot by terminating on thirteen of twenty-eight swings with only two errors. She also added sixteen digs and two blocks.
Omaha may have lost the game, but they were competitive throughout the game and as it would turn out later, the weekend.
→ Nebraska vs. Kansas St. (2017-09-15)
Game 2. After a hotly contested first set, Nebraska cruised through the rest of the match and completed a comfortable 3-0 sweep of KSU. Nebraska swept the Top Performers list as well with Kelly Hunter, Annika Albrecht, and Kenzie Maloney taking the honors. Kelly Hunter’s thirty-seven assists, eleven digs, three kills, three blocks, and a service ace were enough for top honors. Annika added an ace, two blocks, six kills, and fifteen digs. Kenzie Maloney continued a streak of strong performances from her Libero position with sixteen digs.
Both Husker middles had a strong day with Briana Holman acquiring ten kills on eighteen swings with one error and Lauren Stivrins terminating ten times on fourteen swings with three errors.
Kansas State’s Kylee Zumach stands out for the Wildcats with ten kills on twenty-seven swings with only two errors. She added an ace and two blocks for a solid day all-around.
→ Omaha vs. UNI (2017-09-15)
Team
|
Set 1
|
Set 2
|
Set 3
|
Set 4
|
Sets
|
Omaha | 14 | 25 | 18 | 22 | 1 |
UNI | 25 | 19 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
Game 3. The last match on Friday between Omaha and Northern Iowa was almost a repeat of Omaha’s previous match with Kansas State. Both games ended in 3-1 losses for the Mavericks, but that one was a comfortable second set win by Omaha. In this case, Omaha took the second set 25-19.
Bri Weber takes the Top Performer crown in this game despite having a bit of a rough day hitting. Weber had fourteen kills on forty-one swings with eight errors but also acquired a team-high twenty-three digs and an ace. Bri wasn’t the only hitter to struggle as both teams found terminating to be tough sledding. Omaha hit .105 for the match and Northern Iowa managed only .160 in what was a decidedly defensive struggle.
Claire Mountjoy’s match-high twenty-eight digs propelled her into Third Place on the Top Performers list.
→ Nebraska vs. UNI (2017-09-16)
Team
|
Set 1
|
Set 2
|
Set 3
|
Set 4
|
Sets
|
Nebraska | 20 | 23 | 25 | 21 | 1 |
UNI | 25 | 25 | 14 | 25 | 3 |
Game 4. Northern Iowa’s upset of tenth ranked Nebraska was the only game of the weekend I did not see but don’t worry I was watching a game that was equally frustrating for Husker fans if not more so. Watching the football team spot NIU two touchdowns and fail to recover was pain enough.
Statistically, the game was exceptionally close. The teams scored the exact same amount of points and a quick back-of-the-napkin calculation tells me that UNI edged out Nebraska by 0.017 in ViPR Point Efficiency. A razor-thin margin in statistics, but due to Nebraska dominance in the third set, not so close in actual win probability added.
Bri Weber once again stands out for Northern Iowa with fifteen kills and six errors on forty-five swings. Adding nine digs, four assists, three aces, and a block completed a very good day for Weber and led UNI. The three aces for UNI were not the only ones on the score sheet for the Panthers as Taylor Hedges added another three and one apiece from Heather Hook and Piper Thomas. Nebraska’s struggles in serve-receive were not alone as it appears that they struggled to pass and dig. Despite having one more dig and the same number of kills, Nebraska took five fewer swings than Nothern Iowa which suggest some control issues on the back side of Nebraska’s court. A team that had graded out as the best defensive team in the country by ViPR’s viewing coming into the weekend, Nebraska’s struggles on the back end of this match must be concerning to those hoping for a deep tournament run.
→ Kansas St. vs. UNI (2017-09-16)
Team
|
Set 1
|
Set 2
|
Set 3
|
Set 4
|
Set 5
|
Sets
|
Kansas St. | 25 | 24 | 29 | 23 | 15 | 3 |
UNI | 22 | 26 | 27 | 25 | 6 | 2 |
Game 5. Kansas State would top UNI in what was a game of runs back and forth. Those runs led to a fairly high scoring affair by WPA standards as Bryna Vogel led the way. Vogel accumulated fifteen kills on thirty-six swings and committed only three errors. To that, she added twenty-three digs, six blocks, and an ace. Bri Weber once again led the way for Northen Iowa with twenty-two kills on sixty-two swings and eight errors. Weber completed her double-double with seventeen digs.
Both teams struggled to stop long runs from their opponents during this match and momentum shifted quickly and completely. After the first four tumultuous sets, the fifth set was a breather for Kansas State when they took control early and never let go of it. Their five-set victory completed the cycle between Nebraska, UNI, and Kansas State. Nebraska beat Kansas State on Friday afternoon and lost to Northern Iowa on Saturday afternoon. Northern Iowa beat Nebraska on Saturday afternoon and lost to Kansas State on Saturday night. And finally, Kansas State lost to Nebraska on Friday afternoon and beat Northern Iowa on Saturday night.
→ Nebraska vs. Omaha (2017-09-16)
Game 6. Nebraska concluded the Omaha Challenge by sweeping Omaha. After a hotly contested first set where Omaha had the chance to take the set, Nebraska cruised to comfortable wins in sets two and three.
Annika Albrecht takes top honors for the match with fifteen kills on thirty-two sings with three errors. Sydney O’Shaughnessy once again led the way for Omaha with twenty-three assists and nine digs.
Unfortunately, Nebraska’s story of the match was Briana Holman. The senior middle blocker went down with an ankle injury in the third set and was in obvious pain as she left the court. According to Coach Cook during his weekly press conference, Nebraska will be playing it carefully on just when Briana will be back. It appears to be an ankle sprain and Briana could be back at any time, but the staff will undoubtedly be cautious with the senior going forward.
Upcoming
Nebraska starts off the weekend continuing their storied history with Penn State on Friday at State College. The now fourteenth ranked Huskers will take on the second ranked Nitany Lions on BTN at 7 PM Central.
On Saturday, Nebraska will take on Rutgers.