Box Score Kearney, Neb. – The 21st-ranked Central Missouri Jennies finished the fifth set on a 7-1 run to beat 4th-ranked Nebraska-Kearney (-15, 18-25, -16, 18-25, -9) Saturday night at the Health & Sports Center.
 
UNK (23-3, 15-3) now has a half game lead over UCM (17-8, 14-3) in the MIAA standings; the Jennies are at Fort Hays State Sunday afternoon.
 
Beating the Lopers for a fifth straight time, Central Missouri recorded three of its 11 blocks in the fifth set while getting two kills from three different players.
 
A kill from sophomore outside Kinslie TeKolste (Lincoln SE) tied the final set at eight but UCM ripped off three straight thanks to kills by junior outside Carly Sojka and sophomore outside Kourtney Thompson and an unforced UNK error.
 
The Jennies 12th and final service error gave Kearney hope but three more unforced attack errors, and a UCM kill, ended the match.
 
The Lopers hit negative .143 (4-7-21) in the fifth set and were also below zero (7-9-40) in set one. They finished at a season-low .094, registering 53 kills.
 
"I liked the way we fought and gave ourselves a chance. Even in the fifth set, halfway through it was tied and we were in it," said UNK head coach Rick Squiers. "It's a tough one to lose, given the unforced mistakes we made at the end. We're still looking for that person to kinda of carry the offense at times and be a go-to player."
 
A balanced Jennies attack hit .186 and got 14 kills from both Sojka and sophomore middle Haley Thompson with sophomore lefty Becca Blaise providing 12 kills and 10 digs.
 
UNK mixed and matched its lineup all night with the bench providing 28 kills. That included 12 from sophomore middle Katie Weber (Greeley, Colo.), eight from TeKolste and six from sophomore Annie Wolfe (Omaha Marian).
 
Among the starters, freshman outside LaRose Currie (Vail, Colo.) had 13 on 46 swings.
 
Defensively, senior Liz McGowan (G.I. Central Catholic) dug up a career-high 37 balls. The total was just three shy of Kelli Wemhoff's school record, set in a 2006 five-set win over Northern State. McGowan also ups her career total to 1,998, just 61 from breaking Angie Usher's career mark of 2,058.
 
For UCM, Haley Thompson had a team-best eight blocks (four solo) with junior libero Annie Reilly at 30 digs.
 
UNK is at NW Missouri State next Friday night