KEARNEY – The ninth-ranked Nebraska Kearney volleyball team dug up 65 balls and freshman middle blocker Mia Berg had another strong effort as the Lopers swept Northwest Missouri (-16, -12, -12) Saturday evening at the Health & Sports Center.The Lopers (17-1, 7-1) push their win streak to eight while the Bearcats (9-7, 4-4) fall to 0-4 against nationally-ranked squads. These teams will meet again next month in Maryville.
Berg (Eureka, Mo.) had a team-high 10 kills and a team-high five blocks as UNK dominated for much of the match. The Lopers won the dig game by 12, had 11 blocks, held Northwest to 24 kills and had six players have between four and 10 kills.“Mia has emerged, and she plays big. She is big but she plays every bigger than her size and I think the first time through the league, that’s given people some trouble. “I don’t know if they are prepared for that,” said Loper head coach Rick Squiers. “And then our veterans are doing veteran things.”UNK was down 12-9 in the first set before going on a 9-2 run that featured three kills by former Bearcat Jaden Ferguson (Lincoln SW), two unforced errors and two blocks by sophomore middle Trista Marx (Limon, Colo.) After a kill by sophomore setter Peyton Neff (North Platte), senior libero Lauren Taubenheim (Lincoln Pius X) served up five straight points to finish Northwest off.The Blue & Gold limited the ‘Cats to just 13 kills over the final two sets while having 24 of their own. Overall, Northwest hit -.016 as both Marx and Neff had four blocks apiece and Ferguson (13) and Taubenheim (12) had double digit dig totals. Finally, junior Addyson Mock (Stilwell, Kan.) added 12 more.“We were super clean and probably played our best defense we played all year,” said Squires. “That’s been a work in progress for us but Jensen (Rowse) and Addy (Mock) in the left back gives us a lot of confidence that we can channel balls cross court from the left pin. We’re also touching more balls at the net.”In addition to her work at the net, Neff had 31 assists, seven digs, five kills and hit .364 with Ferguson at eight kills and a .269 efficiency. Off the bench, Kansas sophomore outside Emilee Lane provided eight kills in 16 swings (.353).Avery Kemp (six kills, two blocks, two digs) and libero Kyah Luhring (19 digs) paced the ‘Cats.UNK is at Fort Hays State (7-10, 1-7) on Tuesday night.
