Box Score Kearney, Neb. – Junior middle Katie Sokolowski had 12 kills and hit .310 to help the No. 1 ranked Nebraska-Kearney volleyball team get past Doane in three sets (-18, -24, -19) Tuesday night at the Health & Sports Center.
 
The Lopers, playing for the first time in eight days, improve to 12-0 while the Tigers drop to 17-5. Doane came in as the 14th-ranked team in the NAIA.
 
Despite hitting just .196, UNK led the first set from start to finish, getting out to a 7-2 lead and forcing Doane to call a timeout.  The Lopers ended the set with 15 kills, including three by Sokolowski (Kearney Catholic).
 
The next set was much tighter as UNK cooled off even more, hitting .111. The Lopers did break an 18 all tie thanks to a 4-1 spurt, only to see the Tigers come back and tie things at 22 on a block from setter Miranda Wisehart and middle Emily Max.
 
Kearney reached set point thanks to a kill by junior middle Ellie Pesavento (Omaha Marian) but a kill by Doane's Ali Jansen tied things at 24. The Lopers finally put Doane away after a kill from junior outside Ashley Leitner (Lincoln SW) and a Tiger ball handling error.
 
UNK finally warmed up in the third set, having 15 kills and only two errors to hit .302. Overall, the blue and gold hit .196 (44-16-143) on the evening.
 
Also for the Lopers, junior outside Ariel Krolikowski (Grand Island) had 11 kills and eight digs and sophomore Liz McGowan (GI Central Catholic) slid over to the libero role and dug up 21 balls.
 
Susan Rollman (11) and Ashley Axmann (10) had double digit kill totals for the Tigers
 
UNK hosts MIAA foes Emporia State (Friday) and No. 3 Washburn (Saturday) this weekend.