Caleb Johnson
CONTRIBUTOR
The UNO Mavericks headed on a road trip last week and came away with two heartbreaking losses in the fifth set. First they lost to 5-12 Oral Roberts (25-21, 20-25,25-16,21-25,12-15).
The Mavericks then lost to 13-1 South Dakota, the first team to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament from the Summit League Conference last year (21-25, 23-25,25-20,27-25,11-15).
The Mavericks are now 1-6 this season when in the fifth and final set.
Against Oral Roberts, it was mistakes that hindered the Mavericks from winning the game. In the second set UNO had 9 kills to 11 errors with a kill percentage of -0.048% as a team. The team had more swings at the ball than Oral Roberts (42-34) but were missing opportunities.
Oral Roberts’ CeCe Madison led the way in kills with 20 on the night and a 0.189 kill percentage.
For Omaha, Sami Clarkson stood out in the match, as she had a game-high 56 assists. Meanwhile, Claire Mountjoy led in digs with 28.
After losing to Oral Roberts, UNO looked to bounce back in their next game. The Mavericks showed a lot of grit in their match verses South Dakota on Friday, Oct. 4, as they took on one of the best teams in the Summit League, playing to the fifth set.
Ace serves were one of the big difference makers between the Mavericks and the Coyotes. South Dakota had seven to UNO’s three.
UNO fought back hard to take it to the fifth set in a crowd of over 1,200 ‘Yote’s fans. UNO continued its struggle in the early sets, dropping the first two, but as the match drew on UNO showed yet again it can hang with any team in the Summit league.
UNO drops to 2-2 in conference play and sits in fourth place in the overall standings.
The Mavericks next game will be against the Western Illinois Bulldogs this Friday at 7 p.m. The Mavericks will be home on Sunday, facing off against the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodon’s at 1 p.m.
