Box Score | Season Stats
OMAHA, Neb. - - On a night when neither team's offense could get going, it was Nebraska-Omaha who got the best of 16th-ranked Truman, as the Mavericks handed the Bulldogs their third loss in four matches with a 3-2 (-10, -18, 17-25, 20-25, 15-11) setback on Saturday evening.
The Bulldogs (23-7, 12-6 MIAA) hit just .087 for the match and were out-blocked, 15-10, by UNO (17-14, 7-12 MIAA). The Mavericks weren't much better offensively, posting a .127 mark behind two high-percentage sets at the beginning of the match.
After UNO jumped out to a fast 2-0 lead, Truman found a groove and retaliated with set wins in the third and fourth frames.
Truman then appeared to be headed towards a completed comeback, leading 5-2 in the fifth set before UNO crawled back to knot the deciding set at eight apiece. From there, the Mavs built a commanding 13-10 advantage and were able to sideout for the 15-11 win.
Senior Allison Barker (Racine, Wis., Racine Lutheran) had 13 kills and 24 digs to lead the Bulldogs, while junior Molly Sinclair (St. Louis, Mo., Ursuline Academy) added eight kills.
The match was decided by the defenses, as UNO out-dug Truman by a slim 104-100 margin and earned five additional blocks. Senior libero Casey Bruno (Pearland, Texas, Lutheran South) led all players with 28 digs, but the Mavs had three players record 20 or more.
Currently the region's third-seed, Truman will look to snap its current slide with a pair of road matches next weekend to close out the regular season. Truman travels to Northwest Missouri – the region's current six-seed – on Friday (Nov. 12) before wrapping up the 2010 regular season at Missouri Western on Saturday (Nov. 13) night.
