COLUMBUS, OH. – Bethania de la Cruz hammered a match-high 21 kills as the Omaha Supernovas (14-7) ran past the Columbus Fury (8-13) in four sets (24-26, 25-22, 25-18, 25-20) Saturday night at Nationwide Arena in downtown Columbus.
The Supernovas are now one win away from locking up the No. 2 seed in the first Pro Volleyball Federation Championship to be held in Omaha on May 15 and May 18. All-session tickets are now available for the championships and can be purchased via this link.
De la Cruz was the star of the match as her 21 kills marks the fourth time this season she’s posted 20 or more kills. All four of those have come in the last seven matches. The soon-to-be three-time Olympian also finished with 12 digs for a double-double along with her league-leading 29th ace of the season. Team captain Brooke Nuneviller posted her 14th double-double of the year with 15 kills and 16 digs to go with a pair of blocks. Stephanie Samedy was the third and final Supernova to reach double-digit kills with 10 as well as 18 digs, three aces and one block.
The Omaha middle blockers had one of their most efficient nights of the season as Hristina Vuchkova and Tori Dixon combined for 15 kills on 30 swings with only two errors for a .433 clip. Vuchkova led the pair with eight kills, two blocks, two digs and one ace. Dixon contributed seven kills with two digs and two blocks.
Kendall White led a Supernovas defense that held Columbus to a .193 hitting percentage with a match-high 20 digs. Saturday marked the third time this season White has finished with 20 or more digs in a match. Setter Natalia Valentín-Anderson handed out 55 assists and was also a factor defensively with 17 digs, two aces, one block and one kill.
The Supernovas hit .230 as a team with eight blocks and seven aces which is their highest total since Feb. 29 at Atlanta.
Reagan Cooper continued her good fortune against the Supernovas with a team-high 17 kills, 10 digs and one block. She’s had 17 or more kills in each of her three matches against Omaha. Star opposite Kendall Kipp posted 13 kills with 12 digs, one block and one ace. Fury middle blocker Kaitlyn Hord led the block up front with three stuffs and nine kills on a .450 clip. The Fury had 10 blocks and only one ace.
Set 1: De la Cruz tooled the block for back-to-back kills, but Columbus took an early 4-2 lead. Omaha responded with a 3-0 run including Vuchkova and Nuneviller combining on a block. Hord connected on a couple of assists for a pair of kills. Vuchkova put down a kill off the slide to tie the match at seven. De la Cruz added another kill to tie the match at 10. The Fury took off for a 6-2 run as Cooper added two kills, plus Megan Courtney Lush put down a block to make the score 16-12 Columbus. Nuneviller came out of the media timeout with her first kill of the match. Samedy followed up with her second ace as a Supernova to cut the lead to two. Tori Stringer and Valentín-Anderson exchanged setter dumps. Following service errors by each team, de la Cruz added two more kills to tie the match at 18. The Fury answered with a 3-0 run to force a timeout as Kipp hammered a kill while Courtney Lush earned her second block of the match for a 21-18 Columbus lead. Kipp pin-pointed another kill to extend the lead to four. The Fury committed a net violation to end the run. An Omaha block cut the lead to 22-20, forcing a Columbus timeout. Cooper put down a kill, but Samedy earned two kills of her own as part of a 3-0 Omaha run to tie the match at 23. Cooper added a kill to give the Fury set point, but Nuneviller sent the set into extra points with her own tally. Hord gave Columbus another set point with Kipp sealing the set with a kill to make it a 26-24 opening-set win for the Fury.
Columbus hit .250 with three blocks and zero aces. Cooper went off for eight kills on a .400 clip while Kipp and Hord each posted four kills in the set.
Omaha hit .107 with three blocks and the one ace by Samedy. De la Cruz paced the offense with five kills while Nuneviller and Vuchkova each chipping in two.
Set 2: Valentín-Anderson opened the set with the Supernovas’ second ace. Dixon took advantage of the slide for a kill while Nuneviller added to her total with another tally. Columbus rallied for a 3-0 run fueled by Cooper and Kipp kills to take a 5-3 lead. Vuchkova ended the run with a kill from the middle. Kipp put down another kill to give the Fury an 8-6 advantage. Samedy boosted a 4-0 Supernovas run with a pair of kills. Nuneviller continued the momentum by adding two more kills and a solo block to give Omaha a 14-11 lead, forcing a Columbus timeout. The Fury responded with a 3-0 run to tie the match at 14. Nuneviller posted her sixth kill of the match while Vuchkova earned another kill off the slide. Samedy and de la Cruz earned back-to-back kills to give Omaha an 18-16 lead. After the Fury tied the set at 18, Samedy and de la Cruz once again posted consecutive kills to make it 20-18. Nuneviller put down another kill. The Fury put together a 3-0 run with Cooper contributing two kills in the rally to give the Fury a 22-21 advantage. Vuchkova picked up a solo block to end the run and tie the set at 22. Nuneviller slammed down a kill one point later to give Omaha a 23-22 edge. A hitting error gave the Supernovas set point in which Samedy closed the door with her second ace of the night to give Omaha a 25-22 set-two win. The Supernovas went on a 4-0 run to win the set.
Omaha hit .200 with two aces and two blocks. Nuneviller led the charge with six kills while Samedy posted four kills and de la Cruz added three.
Columbus finished with a .093 hitting percentage with three blocks and no aces. Cooper added five kills in the set.
Set 3: De la Cruz used the block for a kill while Dixon earned a block to open the set for a 2-0 Omaha lead. Kipp answered with a kill and block of her own to tie the match at deuces. De la Cruz and Dixon again combined for consecutive kills to make it 4-2 Supernovas. Cooper fueled a 5-0 run for Columbus with a pair of kills while Kipp delivered the first ace of the night for the Fury. Stringer dialed in a push kill to put the Columbus lead at 7-4. Samedy ended the run with a hard termination, but Hord picked up another block. Hord won a joust at the net to give the Fury a 9-5 advantage. De la Cruz added another kill off a touch. Vuchkova followed with an ace to give Omaha momentum. Nuneviller and de la Cruz posted back-to-back kills to tie the match at 13. Samedy earned another kill and followed with her third ace of the match to give Omaha a 16-15 edge. Nuneviller added to the run with another kill. Kipp and Courtney Lush tied the match again at 17 with two-straight kills. Omaha countered with a 3-0 run as Vuchkova and de la Cruz each tallied a kill in the rally to force a Columbus timeout. Vuchkova added to the run with her second block of the match. The Supernovas run was extended to six with a Columbus hitting error and another de la Cruz kill. Nuneviller made it a 7-0 spurt with a kill to give Omaha set point, but Rainelle Jones ended the rally with a middle attack. A Fury service error gave the Supernovas a 25-18 set win to take a 2-1 match lead.
Omaha hit .333 with two blocks and two aces. De la Cruz had quite a set with seven kills on a .333 clip and four digs. Nuneviller added five kills while Samedy posted three kills on six swings.
Columbus hit .250 with two blocks and one ace. Hord finished with three kills on three swings while Jones, Cooper, Kipp and Stringer each had two.
Set 4: Samedy opened the set with her ninth kill of the match. Vuchkova earned another kill and put down an attack from the middle to cut the Fury advantage to 6-5. De la Cruz sparked a 7-0 run to give Omaha a 13-8 advantage as the Dominican Republic native added three more kills in the rally, plus a Dixon kill and Valentín-Anderson’s second ace of the night. Vuchkova put down her seventh kill to extend the Omaha lead to 16-11. Columbus cut the lead to three as Jones and Kipp each earned a kill. De la Cruz answered with back-to-back tallies to extend the lead back to 20-15, Omaha. A Dixon kill and de la Cruz’s league-leading 29th ace of the season halted any Columbus momentum. Samedy gave the Supernovas match point before Vuchkova sealed the win with a kill.
The Supernovas continue their road trip when they visit Vegas to take on the Thrill on Monday, May 6 at Lee’s Family Forum. First serve is set for 9 p.m. CDT. Fans can listen to the action live on the Supernovas Radio Network led by its flagship station 93.7 The Ticket.
