Box Score Kearney, Neb. – Sophomore outside Kendall Schroer had a career-high 22 kills to help third-ranked Nebraska-Kearney beat 16th-ranked Central Missouri (-28, -20, -21, -13) in an MIAA Tournament semifinal match Friday night at the Health & Sports Center.

The top-seeded Lopers (34-1) will play 11th-ranked Washburn (28-5) in the championship match Saturday at 7:00 p.m. The second-seeded Ichabods swept 12th-ranked and third seed Central Oklahoma (30-4) in Friday's early match.

One of 12 nationally-ranked teams in the Central Region, Central Missouri (23-10) came into the weekend knowing it needed to  win the MIAA Tournament to secure a 34th straight NCAA appearance. The Jennies, ranked 10th in the all-important region rankings, have made the NCAA Tournament every year the event has been held at the D2 level; the MIAA tourney winner receives an automatic bid.  

While UNK had beaten UCM twice this fall, the Jennies were healthier than the previous two meetings. The two put on a show in the first set, combining for 47 kills, 17 ties and 10 lead changes.

UCM had just one hitting error in 59 swings (.356) to rally from a 24-22 deficit. They fought off another set point at 28-27 as sophomore outside Kylie Hohlen had the first of three straight kills.

"We played really well offensively in the first set," said

Loper head coach Rick Squiers. "We weren't very good defensively, especially at the net. We dug a bunch of balls but we had zero blocks. We just couldn't stop them and they were playing fantastic."

Up 1-0 after Hohlen's heroics, the Jennies got out to a 7-2 lead in the second set. However, that's when its offensive percentage started to go down. UCM hit .238 in the second set, .087 in the third and a negative .031 in the fourth.

"Central Missouri was expending a lot of energy in the first half of the match. They just kind of ran out of gas. We had something to do with that. We wore them down a bit and played a little bit better as we worked our way through," said Squiers.

UNK had four of its eight team blocks in the second set with three coming in the third. Lincoln junior middle Tara Ziegelbein and Omaha senior right side Annie Wolfe both finished with six with North Platte freshman outside Allison Kuenle having a key early one in the second set.

"We didn't respond well early in that second set. Alison coming in off the bench and getting a block; she's not really knowing for her blocking. At that point, it was something different for them. From there, we were able to get some momentum going," said Squiers.

The Lopers hit a respectable .268 (25-6-71) in the first set but warmed up to .424 (15-1-33) and .406 (17-4-32) in the second and fourth sets, respectively. Coming in with a .301 average, UNK hit .290 on the night.

Schroer (Ogallala) was a big reason why as her 22 kills came in 52 attempts with only two errors (.327). Earlier this season, she had 20 kills in wins over UCO and NW Missouri State, both nationally-ranked squads.

The 2016 MIAA Player of the Year, Wolfe had her typical all-around effort. Besides her block total, she hit .438, had 17 kills, nine digs, five assists and an ace. Ziegelbein (12) was the other Loper to reach double figures in kills with Papillion sophomore libero Ellie McDonnel at match-high 28 digs.

Finally, South Dakota sophomore setter Lindsey Smith provided 54 assists, 10 digs and five kills.

For UCM, Hohlen had a team-best 14 kills with sister Kasey at 11 kills, four digs and three blocks.