UNK Volleyball: #10 Lopers Beat The Griffs in Four

Right side Jaden Ferguson had an all-around effort and defensive specialist Jensen Rowse is closing in on 1,000 career digs as 10th-ranked Nebraska Kearney got past Missouri Western State in four sets (-19, -12, 25-17, -21) Saturday night in St. Joseph, Mo.

The Lopers (25-3, 15-3) take the season series from the Griffons (19-8, 12-6) and improve to 7-3 in true road matches. They finish up the regular season next weekend at Missouri Southern and No. 23 Central Missouri (19-7, 16-2).

UNK was poised for a sweep as it held leads of 19-14, 23-20 and 24-23 in the third set. However, the Griffs recorded back-to-back kills to make it 2-1 on the scoreboard. Mo West hit just .111 (14-9-45) in this set but held the Lopers to a .109 (13-8-42) efficiency.

The Blue & Gold never trailed in the fourth set, but the Griffs tied things up at 17, 18 and 19. It was a 22-21 Loper lead when outside Emersen Cyza (Alliance) smashed home a kill. The night ended after back-to-back MWSU errors with one coming via a double block by middle Trista Marx (Limon, Colo.) and setter Peyton Neff (North Platte).

Ferguson paced UNK with a season-high 16 kills, 15 digs, four blocks, two aces and a 14 of 14 effort in serve receive. She also hit .295 with half her kill total coming in the second set (8-0-9). Including her All-American career at Northwest Missouri State, her career kill total is up to 991. 

Next, Rowse had 11 digs to push her career total to 998. She'll become just the 34th Loper to reach four figures in career digs. Libero Lauren Taubenheim (Lincoln Pius) will soon join Rowse on that dig list as she had 21 more tonight, as well as a 42 for 42 effort in serve receive. Her career dig tally is up to 902. Note Ferguson, Rowse and Taubenheim's career totals don't include the "non-countable" 2021 spring COVID season.

Finally, Marx was a force in the middle (nine kills, three blocks, .412 pct.), outside Asha Regier (Newton, Kan.) was at nine kills, three stuffs and a .308 hitting efficiency and Cyza finished with up 12 kills in 43 swings.  

Danielle Moje (15 kills, three blocks, .400 pct.) and Emma Salker (13 kills) and Taylor Russell (12 kills, three blocks, .296 pct.) paced the Griffs.