Box Score Kearney, Neb. – Junior middle blocker Tara Ziegelbein had another big effort and third-ranked Nebraska-Kearney served up nine aces to beat Lindenwood in four sets (16-25, -12, -15, -11) Friday night at the Health & Sports Center.

The Lopers have now won 26th straight matches at home and are 18-0 (4-0 MIAA) on the season. This is the third 18-0 start in school history, following efforts by the 1982 and 2012 squads. 

Lindenwood (5-8, 0-2) has been a bit of a thorn in UNK's side, beating the Lopers back in 2013 and losing in four sets last year. The Lions were at it again, hitting .289 (16-5-38) to take the first set by nine points.

UNK came out slow, having just nine kills and six errors in set one. Some of those struggles can be attributed to Lindenwood's defense which produced 21 digs and 2.0 team blocks. A 6-2 LWU run broke an eight all tie and the Lions never looked back. A kill from Jessica Krygsheld closed out the set.

The Lopers quickly woke up as they hit .393 (13-2-28) in set two and .407 (12-1-27) in set four. Meanwhile, the Lions tallied just 38 points over the final three sets. They were aced eight times during this stretch, including four times by sophomore outside Kendall Schroer (Ogallala).

Ziegelbein (Lincoln Lutheran H.S.) had a match-high six blocks and a team-high 12 kills while hitting .500. She came into the weekend ranked second in NCAA Division II in hitting efficiency at .478.

Also for Kearney, Yutan junior outside Kaitlynn Thomas had 10 kills and hit .310 with Omaha senior right side Annie Wolfe supplying 10 kills, eight digs, three blocks and three assists. Finally, Lincoln freshman outside Brenna Hansen had two aces.

Lindenwood saw Bailey Dvorak have a match-high 13 kills and York native Aleah Rosenau at four kills and a service ace.

UNK hosts sixth-ranked Central Missouri (12-3) tomorrow. The Jennies were upset by Fort Hays State tonight, 3-1.