Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Kearney, Neb. – The 7th-ranked Nebraska-Kearney volleyball team ran its home court winning streak to 22 straight after sweeps of Black Hills State (-15, -18, -11) and Newman (-16, -18, -15) Saturday at the Health & Sports Center.

These matches were part of the New Victorian Inn & Suites/Runza Fall Classic. UNK (8-0) went 4-0 this weekend with each victory coming in three sets. The NU Jets, from Wichita, came in second place with a 3-1 mark.

"Last year, we were just in problem solving mode the first two or three weeks of the season. We had all spring to work on the things that maybe plagued us last fall and then all those players returned. This is a hard working group. We can't kick them out of the gym. We still put a lot of sophomores out there but we do have some upperclassmen that play all the time," said Loper head coach Rick Squiers.

Over Friday and Saturday, Kearney hit .328 and averaged 18.8 digs, 14.7 kills and 2.4 blocks pet set.

Early Saturday afternoon, the BHSU Yellow Jackets (2-5), from Spearfish, S.D., were aced six times by the Lopers and hit just .054. Part of that was a UNK defense that had 8.5 team blocks and dug up 45 balls.

Omaha senior right side Annie Wolfe (12) was the only Loper in double digits in kills but eight others had at least one. That included Ogallala sophomore outside Kendall Schroer, who had nine kills and hit .318.

At the net, Wolfe and Grand Island freshman middle Mackenize Puckett had four blocks a piece with Schroer adding three more. Finally, South Dakota sophomore setter Lindsey Smith had three aces as well as 33 assists.

The Jets (6-2) were also silenced by the Blue & Gold, hitting only .076. UNK managed 7.0 team blocks and 54 digs while hitting a solid .296.

"Very pleased we were able to come out and play well early and sustain it. In a couple of matches in this tournament, we weren't able to do that quite as well (as tonight) but we had enough respect for Newman. They kept getting better and better with each match. Our girls took note of that," said Squiers.

Lincoln junior middle Tara Ziegelbein had a team-high four blocks as well as 10 kills and a .429 attack percentage. Fellow co-captain Kaitlynn Thomas (Yutan) managed 12 kills and a .423 hitting efficiency with Minden sophomore defensive specialist Morgan Stute having a team-best 13 digs.

"Tara had a dominating performance. We thought we could exploit that matchup with her; she's such a tremendous athlete. Lindsey did a good job of getting her the ball, we were in system a lot and we played good defense," said Squiers.

In the other matches, Mary beat NW Oklahoma State in four sets while falling to BHSU in five. Newman then bested NWOSU in four sets. The All-Tournament Team will be released on Monday. 

UNK heads to New England next weekend where they'll have six matches in a three-day span.