The UNK volleyball team came into the MIAA championship game Saturday night 20-0 in games on their home and neutral courts. Central Missouri came in to the Civic Arena in St. Joseph, Missouri, winners of 11 straight, including a sweep of the Lopers in the last match of the season in Warrensburg.
It was the Jennies who kept their streak alive, sweeping UNK to claim the tournament crown to go along with their regular season championship. The Lopers (28-5), who swept Central Missouri in October, are hoping to have the chance to even the score in the NCAA tournament.
The match hinged on the pivotal second set. After losing the first set 25-16, UNK battled in the second set, coming back from an early 7-4 deficit to take the lead at 10-9 and then extending the lead to 19-16. Central Missouri (24-7) then tied it up at 24. A kill by Asha Regier, who led the team with 13, had the Lopers poised to win the set. However, Central scored the last three points to take the set 27-25. The Jennies made short work of the Lopers in the final set, jumping out to a 12-5 lead and cruising to a 25-11 win to end the tournament.
Coach Rick Squiers said that losing that second set was hard for the team to recover from.
“We had to have that one,” Squiers said. “We knew that. We couldn’t get a stop, and then they did championship things that we weren’t able to do. By that point, you’re not in a good spot, and you’ve expended all of your psychological and most of your physical energy. We would have needed to them to help us out in that third set, which they apparently were in no mood to do.”
Asha Regier (17) goes up for a spike against Central Missouri in the MIAA Tournament Championship match. UCM defeated UNK in three sets.
Jaden Ferguson, who had eight kills and 12 digs, was also disappointed to let the second set slip away.
“You’re close, and you can feel it,” said Ferguson, who joined Regier and setter Peyton Neff on the all-tournament team. “That’s definitely the tide change, them taking that set. We played hard, but we didn’t just didn’t play hard enough times to beat them. They’re a solid team.”
For Squiers, a key part of UCM being a solid team is the strength of their middle to complement their strong outside hitting. Middle blocker Rachel Ziesman had 15 kills and her blocking helped hold a UNK squad that was seventh in the nation in hitting percentage to only .164. Meanwhile, Central hit .351, well above their season average.
“They can come at you from anywhere,” Squiers said. “They are physically good enough to take away some of the things that we like to run, and we were not able to take away some of the things they like to run, and that’s a recipe for disaster.”
Next up for the Lopers will likely be the NCAA tournament. Ferguson, who played in her last MIAA tournament, is hoping to extend her career at least a few more games. The brackets will be announced Monday at 6:30 p.m.
“We’re hopefully going to end up in regionals and have another chance to be better,” Ferguson said.
The Central Region is the toughest region in the country, with eight teams ranked in the top 18 in Monday’s AVCA national poll. That poll is topped by Wayne State (27-1), a likely host for the regional tournament. Three other teams are also ranked in the top 10: St. Cloud State (8th), Southwest Minnesota State (5th) and the 2022 national runner-up, Concordia-St. Paul, the team that knocked UNK out of the NCAA tournament last year. Other teams in the region include MIAA foes Central Missouri (18th) and Central Oklahoma (15th), along with Minnesota Duluth (16th).
Squiers and his team will try to make a few minor adjustments heading into the tournament, in addition to trying not to dwell on what went wrong in this match.
“I think you try to pull a few positives from the match. Had you won the second, we’d still be out there battling and feeling better about things,” Squiers said. “It’s not some sort of drastic overhaul at this point in the season. It will force us as coaches to look at whatever we can do line-up wise or with our offense.”
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