OMAHA, Neb. — The Omaha Supernovas (16-7) finished its regular season home schedule with a sweep of the Columbus Fury (8-15) 27-25, 25-23, 25-21 Thursday night in front of 8,009 at the CHI Health Center. Omaha’s win is the fourth straight victory for the Supernovas as it sets a new franchise record. Omaha has also locked up the season series 3-1 over the Fury. The Atlanta Vibe and San Diego Mojo are the only teams this season to have won multiple matches against the Supernovas.
Omaha hit .157 with seven blocks and five aces. Opposite Stephanie Samedy paced the offense with 12 kills on a season-high .321 clip to go with six digs and two more aces. The Minnesota graduate has been a welcome addition to the Supernovas as she has secured double-digit kills in four of her five matches, including a 1.2 aces per match average. She was complemented by Olympian Bethania de la Cruz who finished with 10 kills, seven digs and her league-leading 31st ace of the season. Team captain Brooke Nuneviller added four kills while Allison Mayfield contributed three kills on four swings in cleanup duty.
Tori Dixon locked down the middle on Thursday, securing a pair of blocks while slamming down eight kills with one hitting error for a .438 hitting percentage. The Minnesota native has been stellar in the last three matches, totaling 22 kills on a .413 clip in the last 10 sets. Hristina Vuchkova had five kills as well as two blocks.
Natalia Valentín-Anderson won her third-straight match as the starting setter as the Puerto Rico native dished out 33 assists with 12 digs, two blocks, two aces and one kill. Libero Kendall White totaled seven digs and four assists in the sweep.
Star right-side hitter Kendall Kipp was the lone player in double digits with a match-high 15 kills on a .353 clip as well as 10 digs.. Reagan Cooper added nine tallies and 12 digs while Team USA veteran Michelle Bartsch-Hackley finished with seven kills. Setter Tori Stringer handed out 35 assist and eight digs.
Set 1: Samedy opened up a 7-4 Omaha lead with an ace. The Fury rallied back to tie it at 7-7, but the Supernovas mounted a 3-0 run to regain the 10-7 lead. Columbus responded with a 4-0 run of their own for an 11-10 advantage. A Dixon kill and a de la Cruz ace put the Supernovas up 15-13. Kipp mounted a 5-0 service run for the Fury and gave them an 18-16 lead. Samedy ended the run with a kill. Kaitlyn Hord recorded her first block of the match for a 20-18 Columbus lead. Valentin-Anderson won a joust for Omaha to tie the score at 22-22. De la Cruz followed-up with her fifth kill of the match. Kipp evened the score, and a Rainelle Jones block gave the Fury set point. Omaha fought off the set point and went on to take the 27-25 set win after a Samedy kill. De la Cruz and Samedy each recorded six kills and an ace for Omaha. Kipp paced the Fury with five kills, no errors and a .625 hitting percentage.
Set 2: Omaha took a 2-0 set lead despite a late run by the Fury. Valentin-Anderson put Omaha on the board first with an ace. The Supernovas jumped out to an 8-6 lead after de la Cruz’s eighth kill of the match. Bartsch-Hackley answered for the Fury with a kill of her own. Jones tied the score at 8-8, and Bartsch-Hackley added back-to-back kills to give Columbus the 10-8 advantage. The Fury hit the 15-point mark first with a Cooper kill. Omaha put together a 5-0 run. Back-to-back de la Cruz kills forced a Fury timeout at 23-19, and a Columbus error gave Omaha a set point. The Fury mounted a 4-0 run to close the Omaha lead to 24-23, but Samedy finished the set at 25-23 with her ninth kill. De la Cruz recorded four kills on the set, and three different Supernovas added a block.
Set 3: Omaha jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead. Kipp got the Fury on the board with her 10th kill. Vuchkova added a block to force a Columbus timeout at 7-2. Samedy recorded her second ace of the match to give Omaha the 10-3 lead. Mayfield checked into the game for Omaha and recorded a kill at 12-5. Columbus went on a 3-0 run to close the Omaha lead to 12-8. The Supernovas surged to a 15-8 advantage after a pair of Dixon kills and a Mayfield kill. Nikoleta Perović narrowed the Omaha lead to 17-14 with a block. Another ace by Valentín-Anderson put the Supernovas up five (22-17) late in the set. Kipp sided-out for Columbus with her 14th kill of the match. Omaha made it to match point off a Fury error. Hord saved one match point for Columbus, but Sophie Davis completed the sweep for the Supernovas and ended the set at 25-21. Mayfield provided a spark for the Supernovas, earning three kills and hitting .750 on the set. Dixon pitched in five kills and a block, hitting .500.
The Supernovas wrap up the regular season with its final road trip to Grand Rapids to face the Rise on Sunday, May 12. The Mother’s Day match is set for 4:30 p.m. CDT as Omaha makes its third regular season appearance on CBS Sports Network. Paul Sunderland and Holly McPeak will be on the call.
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). Award-winning broadcaster Derrick Pearson and AVCA High School Coach of the Year Renee Saunders will be on the call.
With the San Diego Mojo winning on Thursday, it solidifies the field for the first Pro Volleyball Federation Championship. The landmark championship will take place in Omaha at the CHI Health Center with the semifinals set for 6 p.m and 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 15. The No. 1 seed Atlanta Vibe will face the No. 4 seed Grand Rapids Rise at 6 p.m. with the No. 2 seed Supernovas taking on the No. 3 seed Mojo at 8:30 p.m. All matches will be televised on CBS Sports Network. The two winners will face off in the championship at 3:30 p.m. CDT on Saturday, May 18.
