(KIRKSVILLE, Mo.) – A four-kill fifth set by senior Allison Barker helped save the No. 10 Truman volleyball team from a Saturday afternoon upset in Pershing Arena, as the Bulldogs held off a comeback effort by Nebraska-Omaha, winning 3-2 (-15, -22, 17-25, 19-25, 15-12), to remain perfect at home and move to 7-0 in five-set matches on the season.

 

The Bulldogs (17-3, 6-2 MIAA) appeared to be poised to send the Mavericks (12-9, 2-7 MIAA) home in sweeping fashion after hitting .229 and holding UNO around the .000 attack line through the first two sets.

 

But UNO rebounded, jumping ahead early in the third set to pull within 2-1 before using an 8-3 run midway through the fourth set to roll to a six-point win.

 

The Mavs then appeared to have all the momentum, building both 8-3 and 11-8 leads in the fifth set before Truman found a fifth gear behind Ashley Petak's serving to pull ahead 13-11. A UNO kill brought the score to 13-12, but Barker (Racine, Wis., Racine Lutheran) delivered a kill in front of a Maverick setting error closed out the match and gave Truman its fifth win out of six when going the distance.

 

Barker led the Bulldogs with 14 kills and hit .273, while adding 14 digs for a double-double. Sophomore Lauren Radix (Black Earth, Wis., Wisconsin Heights) (pictured right) joined her in double-figures, adding ten kills and a team-high five blocks for 12.5 total points. Petak (Omaha, Neb., Bellevue West) paced the Truman setters with 23 assists, and senior Casey Bruno (Pearland, Texas, Lutheran South)'s 23 digs were a match-high.

 

The Bulldogs were outhit for the match, .194 to .158, but each team tallied 54 total kills. Truman out-aced the Mavs, 8-5, but also committed 13 service errors.

 

Kayla Uhing led UNO with 17 kills on 45 attempts, and Emily Myers added an assist-dig double-double with 42 and 16.

 

Truman will be off until next Friday (Oct. 15) when it plays host to Northwest Missouri State (8-7, 4-3 MIAA) at 7 pm in Pershing Arena.