Mavericks Open NCAA Tournament Thursday Against Washburn
11/16/2009 7:36:01 PM
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The Mavericks will begin their sixth straight trip to the NCAA tournament Thursday against another team that’s making its sixth straight trip. Nebraska-Omaha, seeded seventh in the region, will take on second-seeded Washburn Thursday at 2:30 p.m. in the first round of the South Central Region tournament. Top-seeded Central Missouri will host the eight-team event in the UCM Multipurpose Building.
The winner of UNO’s match will play the winner of the No. 3 West Texas A&M/No. 6 Truman match Friday at 6:00 p.m. in the second round. The two other first round matches are No. 1 UCM against No. 8 Dallas Baptist and No. 4 Emporia State against No. 5 Pittsburg State.
The region championship will be Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The winner of the South Central Region tournament advances to the national tournament, December 3-5, hosted by one of the eight regional winners.
UNO, ranked No. 23 in the latest national poll, and No. 8 Washburn split their two matches earlier this year with the home team winning each time. UNO won in five sets on September 23 and the Lady Blues won in three sets on October 28.
Nebraska-Omaha (20-13) is making its sixth straight trip to the postseason and 19th overall. The Mavericks won the regional tournament and advanced to the national tournament five different times, including in 1996 when they won the national championship. Head coach Rose Shires is making her 11th trip.
UNO held on to the No. 7 spot in the region despite dropping its final match of the year. Central Missouri, ranked No. 4 this week, topped UNO in five sets in both teams’ only matches last week. Washburn defeated Fort Hays State, 3-1 Wednesday and then topped No. 10 Emporia State, 3-1 in front of 1,564 fans at home Friday.
Six of the eight teams in the tournament are from the MIAA and UNO has played every team this year but WTAMU. The Mavs are 3-8 against the field.
Follow The Mavericks On The Internet Or Radio
UNO’s matches in the NCAA tournament will be broadcast by MavRadio, UNO’s student radio station that can be heard online at www.omavs.com/kvnoHD2 or on channel 90.7-2 in the Omaha area on HD-radio tuners.
Central Missouri will offer a free web stream of every match, as well as free live stats. Fans can link to those through www.omavs.com/vball. Click on “Schedule” and then look under the “Details” on each tournament match.
Maverick Volleyball Postseason History...
The Mavericks are 24-18 all-time in 18 trips to the NCAA tournament. They’re 11-7 in opening round matches and 18-12 all-time in regional tournament play.
The Mavs have faced two teams in this year’s field in previous NCAA tournament action. They lost to Truman last year in the first round and they split a pair of matches against UCM. They beat the Jennies in 1984 in regional action and then fell to them in 1987 in the region semifinal.
The Mavericks won the national championship in 1996 with a 3-2 victory over Tampa. They last advanced out of the regional and into the national tournament in 1997. They have been to the last five region tournaments, dating back to 2004.
Angie Reicks Breaks School Digs Record
Sophomore libero Angie Reicks set a school record with 46 digs Friday against Central Missouri. The previous high was 39 by Kevin Campbell in 1994. Reicks’ previous high was 37, set earlier this year.
Reicks’ big performance moved her from seventh to fifth in the MIAA with 4.58 digs per set. She has reached double figures in digs in 27 of 33 matches this year, including each of the last 12.
Reicks’ total of 577 digs is the third highest single-season mark in school history and this is just the eighth time that a player has recorded at least 500 digs.
Mavericks Notch Another 20-Win Season
The Mavericks secured their 27th 20-win season in the program’s 40th year of competition when they defeated NWMSU on November 20. Despite playing in the last five NCAA tournaments, 20-win seasons have been rare lately. The Mavericks only had three 20-win seasons in the last nine years. They did win 20 or more every year from 1992 to 2000. Head coach Rose Shires has 12 20-win seasons in her 20 years at UNO.
Goeser Enters 1,000 Kill Club
Senior outside hitter Kelli Goeser earned her 1,000th career kill at UNO October 31 against Emporia State. She now has 363 kills this year and 1,044 in her career. She became the 18th member of the 1,000 kill club and the second Maverick this year to join the elite group after Ellen Thommes did so earlier in the season.
Goeser is second on the team with 2.88 kills per set and second with 3.17 points a set. She has 19 double-figure kill matches this year.
Thommes Near The Top In Attack Percentage
Senior middle hitter Ellen Thommes is second in the MIAA with a .399 attack percentage and she’s on pace to finish with the second highest single-season mark in school history. Her career attack percentage of .345 ranks third all-time at UNO.
Thommes is also UNO’s leader with 3.22 kills a set and 1.02 blocks. She’s second in the MIAA in blocks and fourth with 4.03 points a set.
Myers Enters UNO Top-10 In Career Assists
In just her second season with the Mavs, sophomore setter Emily Myers moved into the top 10 in career assists at UNO. She’s currently ninth with 2,311 and she needs 48 to move to eighth all-time and pass her predecessor, Katie Agnew (2,359 assists from 2004-07). Myers is the ninth player in UNO history to record at least 2,000 assists.
Myers is fourth in the MIAA with 10.90 assists per set. She has had 30 or more assists in 31 of 33 matches this year and she’s topped 50 seven times. She had a career high of 60 November 6 at Missouri Western. She also has 13 double-doubles this year combining double-figure assist totals with double-figure dig totals.
Ebke First In The MIAA In Aces
Freshman defensive specialist Natalie Ebke remained first in the MIAA with .47 aces per set. Ebke has a total of 59 aces and she holds UNO’s top four single-match marks for assists this year, getting five or more four times.
Mavericks Drop To 23rd In National Poll
The Mavericks three-match losing streak dropped them to 23rd in the latest national poll, released Monday. This is the lowest the team has been ranked since first jumping in the poll at No. 23 after week two.
UNO is one of six MIAA teams in the top 25 and overall, seven of UNO’s 2009 opponents are in the ranking.
The Mavericks were unrated in the preseason and after week one. Their highest ranking this year was 15th on September 28 and October 5.
Seven of the eight teams in the NCAA South Central Region tournament are ranked and four of them are in the top 10.
Mavs Nearly Unbeatable When Winning First Set
Nebraska-Omaha is 19-4 when winning the first set of the match. Conversely, the Mavericks are 1-9 when dropping the opening set. Their only win after losing set one came on September 18 in a five-set battle with No. 22 Pittsburg State.
UNO is 13-2 in matches that go three sets. The Mavs are 5-4 in four-set matches and 2-7 in five-set matches.
Mavs Face Tough Foes Week to Week
There’s never an easy week in the MIAA and for the Mavericks, there have been very few weeks when they haven’t had to play some of the top teams in the country. They have faced at least one ranked team in nine of their 11 weeks of competition. In six of those weeks they were facing at least one top-10 opponent. They are 3-10 in their 12 total matches against ranked teams.
Mavericks Against The Tournament Field...
- The Mavericks have faced six of the other seven teams in the region tournament this year and they hold a 3-8 record against the field.
- They split the two matches with Washburn this year and hold a 4-3 record in the all-time series.
- UNO dropped both matches to Central Missouri this year and the Jennies are 27-11 all-time against UNO.
- UNO and West Texas A&M did not meet this year. The Lady Bulls are 3-2 against UNO all-time.
- Emporia State beat UNO in both matches this year and hold a 5-3-1 lead in the all-time series.
- UNO and Pittsburg State split the series this year and UNO leads the all-time series, 7-2.
- Truman swept the season series against UNO this year but the Mavs hold a 13-8 lead in the all-time series.
- The Mavericks beat Dallas Baptist this year in the first-ever meeting between the schools.
- Ellen Thommes was strong for UNO against these teams this year. She hit .372 in the 11 matches and averaged 3.29 kills and 4.01 points.
Coming Up Next
The winner of the South Central Region tournament will advance to the national tournament, December 3-5. The sight of those final three rounds will be chosen amongst the eight region winners.