Box Score Kearney, Neb. – The co-2nd-ranked Nebraska-Kearney volleyball team used a quick start to beat co-2nd-ranked SW Minnesota State (-21, -18, 26-28, -14) in an NCAA Tournament second round match Friday evening in St. Paul, Minn.
 
The third-seed in the Central Regional, the Lopers (35-2) will play top-ranked Concordia-St. Paul (29-4) Saturday at 7:00 p.m. for the right to go to the Elite Eight.

The Golden Bears, five-time defending national champs won a 32nd straight NCAA match by sweeping 5th-ranked Minnesota-Duluth late Friday night.

“First of all, obviously, we are thrilled for our program,” said UNK head coach Rick Squiers. “Our girls worked extremely hard to give themselves this opportunity and to move on to the regional final. thought they played their hearts out and competed like crazy. I saw out there what we've seen all year' a fearless group of girls that believes they can compete with anyone in the country.”

Click HERE for the complete UNK presser.

UNK, which beat the second-seeded Mustangs (30-3) in the second round of the 2010 Central Regional, never trailed in winning the first two sets. The hot start featured a 5-3 run to end the first set and a 10-3 spurt to start the second.
 
However, SMSU bounced back and controlled much of the third set. Ahead 16-11, the Mustangs served one into the net and then senior setter Jena Rouzee (GI Northwest) recorded one of the Lopers seven aces.
 
This was the start of a 10-6 Kearney run that ended when junior middle Ellie Pesavento (Omaha Marian) smashed home one of her 13 kills.
 
Southwest freshman McKell Anderson (team-high 14 kills) stopped the bleeding with a kill to give her team a 23-21 lead. But, UNK countered with three straight kills to reach match point.
 
The back and forth action you would expect from two of the nation's best teams continued as the 'Stangs fought off three match points with three kills from three different players. To tie the set at 26, Southwest got a “dig kill” from libero Rachel Westby.
 
Southwest then took the set with two more kills, one being from Anderson. 
 
Early in the fourth set, UNK grabbed a 6-4 lead when Anderson had back to back unforced hitting errors and freshman reserve setter Erin Seele (Johnstown, Colo.) served up an ace.  The Lopers didn't trail again, moving ahead 18-10 at one point. 
 
Overall, Southwest recorded one more kill than the Lopers, 58-57, but UNK hit nearly 100 points better, .282 to .173, as the Mustangs had 17 more errors. SMSU also won the dig battle, 84 to 79, with UNK being plus three in the serve game.

“Anytime you make errors there are contributing factors and I think we helped contribute to that and so did they,” said SMSU head coach Terry Culhane. “I thought they defended well and were aggressive swinging at us and we could just never seem to get everybody in the flow of things."
 
Individually, a very balanced Loper attack featured 13 kills by both Pesavento and senior outside Ariel Krolikowski (Grand Island), 12 kills from junior middle Katie Sokolowski (Kearney Catholic) and 10 kills by junior outside Ashley Leitner (Lincoln SW).
 
All of Krolikowski's 13 kills came in the three final sets with Pesavento hitting a match-high .500, having just one error in 24 swings.
 
Defensively, sophomore libero Liz McGowan (GI Central Catholic) and Rouzee had 18 digs a piece with Krolikowski and Sokolowski both having four blocks. Krolikowski also had 10 digs to record her another double double.
 
Finally, Rouzee had 43 assists, five kills and a .294 hitting efficiency. She was one of five Lopers to have at least one service ace in the win.
 
Besides Anderson, Southwest got 15 digs and 12 kills from Brooke Burmeister.