Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Kearney, Neb. – The 13th-ranked Nebraska-Kearney volleyball team got solid production from its veterans to sweep Edinboro (Pa.) University and beat Colorado  Mesa in four sets Friday at the Oredigger Volleyball Classic in Golden.

These were the season-opening matches for the Lopers.

UNK bested the Fighting Scots of Edinboro (-14, -16, -18) to start the day and then defeated former RMAC rival CMU in the evening (-18, -11, 20-25, -14).

Last season, Edinboro won 31 matches and reached the NCAA Tournament. Returning most of its top players from that squad, the Scots were still no match for the Lopers. UNK hit .326, had six serves aces, five team blocks and tallied 15 more digs, 41-26. Not surprisingly, Kearney trailed just four times in the match.

Individually, Yutan junior outside Kaitlynn Thomas had a match-high 15 kills and hit .428 with Lincoln junior middle Tara Ziegelbein providing 12 kills and a .611 efficiency. From the right side, Omaha senior Annie Wolfe got hot late to tally eight digs, seven kills and a .600 percentage.

Another 2015 NCAA tourney squad, CMU suffered a close four-set loss to Wayne State to start its Friday. While the Mavericks took the fourth set from UNK, they were still out hit by nearly 200 points, .342-.150, in the match.

Thomas (12) again reached double digits in kills with Wolfe having a team-best 13 and hitting .370. Coming off the bench, Ogallala sophomore Kendall Schroer had 12 kills and hit .429 with Grand Island freshman middle Mackenzie Puckett having eight kills in 11 swings to hit .636. Defensively, Papillion sophomore libero Ellie McDonnell dug up 21 balls.

UNK faces Cal State Los Angeles and St. Cloud State on Saturday.