Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Kearney, Neb. – The 15th-ranked Nebraska-Kearney volleyball team ran its win streak to eight straight after sweeping Oklahoma Baptist (-17, -16, -17) and Henderson State (-9, -9, -18) Saturday in St. Joseph, Mo.

These matches allowed the Lopers (10-2) to face two teams from the Great American Conference. The Central Region is made up of schools in the MIAA, NSIC (Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conf.) and GAC.

In the morning against a Division II upstart OBU (5-7), UNK got 10 kills and a .455 hitting efficiency from junior middle Bailey Sokolowski (Kearney Catholic H.S.) to win in three. The match featured just four ties and two lead changes, all in the first set. However, the Bison hung around in each set as they had 34 kills and five team blocks.

Sokolowski didn't commit a single error in 22 swings with four other Kearney players between eight and nine kills. That included junior Skyler Erickson (Greeley) with nine. The Central C.C. transfer, who also had 16 digs in the win, has mainly been in the backrow but was an outside the past two years for the Raiders.

"We took a step forward today, especially in the Oklahoma Baptist match. We were really good defensively, controlled the ball well and had only a few errors on offense," said UNK head coach Rick Squiers. "Skyler has been doing some good things in practice so we put her out there today. She functioned pretty well in a position (second left side) that has been up and down for us so far this year."

Next to Sokolowski, sophomore Tara Ziegelbein (Lincoln Lutheran H.S.) had nine kills and hit .444 with freshman defensive specialist Morgan Stute (Kearney Catholic H.S.) digging up 19 balls and libero Ellie McDonnell (Papillion-LaVista H.S.) providing 21. As a team, Kearney had 87 total digs (29 per set avg.)

Henderson, from Arkadelphia, Ark., fell to 1-12 after the loss to the Lopers. UNK allowed just 18 points over the first two sets and ended the afternoon match hitting .411 (37-7-73) with eight aces and nine blocks.

Nearly every Loper got into the act; McDonnell had a team-best 11 digs, freshman Kendall Schroer (seven) and Connar Newberry (five) combined for 12 kills with Schroer (Ogallala) having a team-high six blocks. Finally, freshman setter Lindsey Smith (Dakota Dunes, SD) had 18 assists, three aces, three block assists, two kills and a dig in two sets.

"Today we were a confident team. I think we're still moving forward but we won't know how much progress we've made until we get into the heart of the MIAA schedule," said Squiers. "We have a brutal road stretch coming up and then we have to turn around and play those same teams again at home."

UNK is at Fort Hays State (Tuesday), nationally-ranked Washburn (Friday) and Emporia State (Saturday) next week.