The Omaha Supernovas hosted the franchise’s second “Volleyball After Dark Showcase” Friday night. The showcase featured a spring exhibition match between the University of Nebraska-Kearney (UNK) and Wayne State prior to the Supernovas’ match against the Grand Rapids Rise.
UNK and Wayne State played in a timed, 80-minute match to accommodate the league’s 90-minute warm-up requirement. The schools split the first two sets, the only full sets they played. In the third set, with Wayne ahead 23-22, the horn sounded, marking the end of the exhibition.
Friday’s second match was the official beginning of a transitional period for the Supernovas, who parted ways with first-year head coach Luka Slabe on April 7. Assistant coach Thomas Robson was promoted to interim head coach for the remainder of the season and will resume his role as assistant coach following the season.
Omaha entered Friday’s match 11-11 on the season and in third place in league standings with six regular-season matches remaining. A win would further insulate Omaha’s place in the top four of league standings and improve its chances at a playoff berth for a third consecutive season.
The Supernovas took control of the first set early, scoring the first point and holding the lead before Grand Rapids tied the set at 12. From there, Grand Rapids stymied Omaha’s offense, which carried a .043 attack efficiency through the first set. Grand Rapids never trailed again, using a 13-5 run to steal the first set 25-17.
In a tightly contested second set, Thomas Robson earned his first successful challenge as a head coach, when video review determined that Brooke Nuneviller’s attack indeed hit the floor before Grand Rapids’ Paige Briggs-Romine could get under it with her pancake attempt. Later in the second set, however, he lost his perfect challenge record following an unsuccessful challenge for a net touch by Grand Rapids.
With the score tied at 25 in set two, Grand Rapids’ Elizabet Inneh’s attack went long, bringing Omaha to set point. Leyla Blackwell closed set two, blocking Grand Rapids’ attempt at the net to win the set for the Supernovas and tie the match at one set apiece.
Blackwell got the scoring started for the Supernovas in set three, picking on former teammate Morgan Hentz, who could not corral her attack. From there, however, the third set was all Grand Rapids, who continued to halt Omaha’s offense at every turn. Omaha could not overcome its increasingly poor efficiency (.039) in set three, allowing Grand Rapids to take the set 25-20.
Set four mirrored set two as a back-and-forth affair, but again, Omaha could not overcome the Grand Rapids defense, and the Rise took the final set 25-22 and the match 3-1. Friday night, Omaha set a franchise record for most swings in a four-set match with 193, and Grand Rapids countered with 104 digs, the most by a Supernovas opponent in franchise history. Omaha’s .119 attack efficiency was its second lowest output of the season, the lowest since it hit .063 in a three-set loss to Orlando on February 15.
Despite the low offensive team output, middle blocker Leyla Blackwell came off the bench and had the best match of her professional career. Blackwell posted a team-high .444 hitting efficiency with 10 kills and just two errors on 18 swings, and added a pair of blocks.
The second edition of “Volleyball After Dark,” while ending in a Supernovas loss, was another win for volleyball in Nebraska. After Creighton and Omaha’s exhibition last season, two more in-state programs got to showcase their talent on a professional court, and in front of many young volleyball players with collegiate dreams.
The Supernovas continue to prove that Nebraska is the volleyball capital of the world and provide opportunities for the next generation of young talent in the state.
Omaha, still sitting in third place in MLV standings, will return to action on Sunday, when it hosts the second-place Dallas Pulse at 4 p.m.
