OMAHA, NE. — Three more franchise records fell as the Omaha Supernovas (10-4) dominated the Vegas Thrill (5-10) in a 25-19, 25-17, 25-21 sweep Saturday night at the CHI Health Center in Omaha.
The Supernovas did so in front of 10,315 fans which marks the fifth of eight home matches that Omaha has welcomed in at least 10,000 fans. With Saturday’s attendance, the Supernovas own all top five attendance marks for U.S. pro volleyball matches. Omaha hosted a U.S. record 12,090 fans in the Supernovas’ four-set win over the Orlando Valkyries on March 16.
It was a record-breaking night for the Omaha middle blockers as Hristina Vuchkova and Tori Dixon each broke or tied a franchise record. Vuchkova recorded eight kills on a franchise record .571 hitting percentage to go along with two blocks. Dixon tied the franchise record for most blocks in a single match with five which marked half of Omaha’s 10 team blocks on the night.
One match after breaking multiple franchise records, team captain Brooke Nuneviller led the Supernovas’ attack with 11 kills and two blocks while being the lone player to reach double-digit kills. Rookie Paige Briggs made her second career start and tallied eight kills with 11 digs and one ace. Opposite Nia Reed hammered three kills while Jess Schaben-Lansman had two.
Setter Sydney Hilley dished out 35 assists and tied a team-high 11 digs. Libero Gabby Thompson dug out eight balls and handed out three assists.
Omaha hit .209 as a team with 10 blocks and a pair of aces. The Supernovas defense came up with a huge performance smashing its own franchise record by holding Vegas to a .006 hitting percentage. The Thrill picked up 13 blocks and and two aces.
South Alabama product Hannah Maddux garnered a team-high six kills while Layne Van Buskirk, Oblad Berkeley and Kenna Sauer each had five kills. Berkeley, Sauer and Khat Bell each tied the team-high with three blocks.
Set 1: Briggs earned the first kill of the match for the Supernovas and recorded an ace to make it 4-3 early on. A Dixon kill extended the Omaha lead to 9-6. The Supernovas went on a 3-0 run powered by kills from Nuneviller and Briggs. Setter Hilley found the court for a 19-13 lead. Vuchkova logged her fourth kill of the match to widen the Omaha lead to 21-14. Briggs followed up with her third kill. Middle blocker Sophie Davis recorded her first career kill to get the Supernovas to set point, 24-16. The Thrill mounted a three-point run, but a net violation ended the set in favor of Omaha, 25-19. Vuchkova led the Supernovas with four kills and a perfect .1000 hitting percentage.
Set 2: An all-out defensive effort by Schaben-Lansman dropped on the Vegas side to double the Omaha lead at 6-3. The Supernovas went on a 3-0 run to force a Vegas timeout at 10-5. Vuchkova followed it up with a block. A pair of Vegas kills closed the Omaha lead to 12-8. A Vegas attacking error and Reed block put Omaha up 14-8. Omaha mounted another 3-0 run, and a kill by Dixon forced a Thrill timeout at 19-10. Van Buskirk ended the run with her fourth kill of the match. The Thrill put together their own 3-0 run behind a Sauer block and kill. Reed took Omaha to set point with her second kill, and Briggs ended it at 25-17 to put the Supernovas up two sets to none. Three Supernovas recorded a block, and a steady offensive effort led them to a .303 hitting percentage.
Set 3: Vuchkova logged her seventh and eighth kills of the match to start the Supernovas off 2-1 early in the set. Sauer gave the Thrill a 4-3 lead with her third block. Briggs and Nuneviller each logged a kill to put Omaha up 9-7. The Thrill went on a 5-0 run to force an Omaha timeout at 12-9. Bell picked up a pair of blocks for the Thrill in the sequence. The Thrill extended the lead to 14-10 after a Maddux ace. Briggs answered with her eighth kill. Dixon had back-to-back blocks on a 4-0 Omaha run to tie the score at 16-16 ahead of a Vegas timeout. The Supernovas grabbed the next three points out of the timeout after another Dixon block and a Nuneviller kill. Nuneviller tallied back-to-back kills for Omaha and forced a Vegas timeout. She followed it up with an ace. A net violation gave Omaha the set point. Maddux and the Thrill fought off one match point, but a Thrill service error ended it 25-21 for Omaha. Dixon logged four blocks for Omaha, while four Thrill players logged two to help the Thrill outblock Omaha 8-6 on the set. Nuneviller led the Supernovas with six kills.
The Supernovas hit the road for the first time since March 9, traveling to San Diego to battle the Mojo on Tuesday, April 2 with first serve set for 9 p.m. CDT.
Fans can listen to all the action on the Supernovas Radio Network which is led by the flagship station, 93.7 The Ticket. Radio coverage is also on 95.7 The Boss (Omaha), KRVN (Lexington), KOLT (Scottsbluff) and KTIC (West Point).
