Story by Supernovas Communications
HENDERSON, Nev. — The Omaha Supernovas, Nebraska’s professional volleyball team and first pro volleyball champions, became the first team to punch their ticket to the 2025 Pro Volleyball Federation Championship, riding a career night from opposite Kelsie Payne to a 25-17, 25-20, 22-25, 26-24 win over the Vegas Thrill (8-13) Thursday night at Lee’s Family Forum.
The first-place Supernovas (16-5) are set to defend its title in Vegas for the PVF Semifinals on Friday, May 9 before the Championship “Match for a Million” on Sunday, May 11 back at Lee’s Family Forum. The semifinals are set for 7 p.m. CDT between the No. 1 and No. 4 seeds with the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds to follow at 9:30 p.m. CDT. The two semifinal winners will play at 3 p.m. CDT on Sunday. Both semifinal matches and the championship will be televised nationally on CBS Sports Network.
Payne was nearly unstoppable for most of the evening, tallying a PVF career-high 27 points on 22 kills with a .396 hitting percentage, 11 digs, four blocks and one ace. Outside hitter Brooke Nuneviller started slow for Omaha, but turned it up late to finish with 13 kills, 12 digs and one block to be one of four Supernovas with a double-double. Ally Batenhorst joined that quartet with 12 kills, 10 digs and one ace.
Middle blocker Kayla Caffey slammed down five kills on a .300 clip with four blocks. Kaitlyn Hord chipped in two kills, but added three blocks to move her league-leading total to 70 on the season, matching the PVF single-season record of former Supernova Hristina Vuchkova.
Setter Natalia Valentín-Anderson shook off her rough outing last week versus Orlando to dish out 44 assists with 15 digs, two kills and two aces. Libero Camila Gómez secured 13 digs and four assists on the night while passing at a 57% positive rate — second best on the team.
The Supernovas hit .274 as a squad with 13 blocks and five aces. Omaha’s defense limited Vegas to a .155 team clip while the Thrill posted seven blocks and five aces.
The high-flying Hannah Maddux recorded a team-best 21 kills, 10 digs and two blocks to nearly keep up with Payne. 2025 PVF All-Star Adora Anae hammered 11 kills and 13 digs in her Thrill debut while passing for a match-high 86% positive rate on 22 receptions.
The Supernovas continue their West Coast road trip with a visit to the San Diego Mojo on Saturday, April 12 at Viejas Arena. First serve is set for 8 p.m. CDT as the match will be streamed live on the PVF YouTube Channel and can be heard on the Supernovas Radio Network.
Key Notes
- The Supernovas (16-5) overtook the 2024 Atlanta Vibe to become the fastest team in PVF history to secure a playoff spot. Atlanta did so with 79% of the season complete while Omaha secured its ticket to the postseason with 75% of the 2025 season finished.
- Omaha won its seventh consecutive road match, extending its own PVF record. Plus, the Supernovas tied their own franchise record of four-straight wins for the third this season.
- Since starting the season 2-2, the Supernovas are 14-3 having won eight of the last nine matches.
- In her first 14 matches of the season, Payne did not record double-digits in any stat categories. In the last three matches she’s posted double-digit kills, plus double-digit digs in two of those three contests.
- Payne matched the season high for any Supernovas player with 22 kills — a mark that’s now been reached four times in 2025: twice by Nuneviller, once by Batenhorst, and now by Payne.
- Nuneviller recorded her 13th double-double of the season, which is the second most in the PVF. She’s had 10 or more kills and digs in three-straight matches.
Set 1: Payne started the match with a block while Kayla put away an overpass to give the Supernovas a quick 3-1 out of the gate. Maddux responded with two kills of her own, plus a Batenhorst error tied the set at treys. Caffey roofed a Vegas attack and Payne followed with a kill. Hord jumpstarted a 3-0 run behind back-to-back stuffs from the league’s block leader for an 8-5 Supernovas lead. Anae and Willow Johnson hammered back-to-back kills to cut the deficit to one. Hord terminated on a middle set and Caffey followed with another block for a three-point Omaha edge. Leading 13-10 after Caffey and Maddux traded kills, the Supernovas rallied for a 3-0 run behind two kills from Batenhorst and one from Payne for a 16-11 lead. A service error ended the run, but Payne sided out for Omaha with a kill. Camryn Hannah sneaked one by the Supernovas defense, but Payne and Nuneviller swatted back-to-back kills to force a Thrill timeout at 20-14. Lindsay Krause came in and served dimes off the bench, securing her second ace of the year before forcing an overpass kill for Payne as Vegas called another timeout at 22-14 Omaha. Maddux and Carly Graham posted a pair of kills, but a Hannah hitting error secured a 25-17 set win for the Supernovas.
The Omaha offense went off for a .323 hitting percentage while posting five blocks and the one ace from Krause. Payne earned a team-high six kills on a .600 clip while Hord and Caffey each had two blocks. Vegas had 10 hitting errors en route to a .054 hitting percentage in the set. Maddux slammed down a team-leading six kills while the Thrill had one block and no aces.
Set 2: Maddux got the Thrill going early with a pair of kills, plus a Johnson tally for a 3-1 Vegas advantage. Payne responded with another kill, but a Maddux swing and Omaha hitting error extended the Thrill edge to three. But then Vegas committed a pair of errors before Batenhorst tied the set at five with a kill. Anae made her presence felt with two swings finding the floor to send the set into a media timeout with an 8-7 Thrill lead. Payne terminated on another swing to tie the set before Caffey came up with a block to give the Supernovas a 10-9 advantage. The Thrill recorded back-to-back points, but a Payne block ignited a 6-0 run as Nuneviller tallied three consecutive kills to establish a 16-11 Omaha lead. Johnson ended the run with a kill down the line before Graham served an ace off Batenhorst to give the Thrill a burst of momentum. Payne flew from the right side for a kill to keep the lead at four. Graham split the defense with a setter dump while Luper followed with an off speed kill to cut the Supernovas lead to two. Batenhorst answered with back-to-back kills for a 20-16 Omaha lead to force a Thrill timeout. Valentín-Anderson stamped the lead with an ace out of the break before Batenhorst added on with a kill. The run ended at five as Anae sided out for the Thrill. Hord gave Omaha set point with a middle attack, but Vegas strung together a trio of points before Payne ended the set with her 13th kill for a 25-20 win for the Supernovas.
The Omaha offense hit even better in the second set with a .406 hitting percentage and adding two blocks and one ace. Payne paced the Supernovas attack with seven kills on 10 swings for a .700 clip. Batenhorst recorded four kills (.444) with Nuneviller chipping in three. Vegas hit .205 with two aces, but had zero blocks. It was a balanced attack for the Thrill with Maddux posting a team-high four kills while Johnson and Anae each had three.
Set 3: Former Supernovas middle blocker Sophie Davis started the set off with a kill, but Caffey tied the score by dropping in a ball into the campfire. Payne followed with an ace for Omaha to grab the lead. Berkeley Oblad posted only the second block for Vegas, but Payne followed with a kill by nicking a Thrill finger to tie the set again. Oblad terminated a ball off the slide before an Omaha setting error gave Vegas a 5-3 edge. Caffey sided out with a kill. Valentín-Anderson fooled the defense with a setter dump, but a 3-0 run for the Thrill — which included a Johnson kill — put the lead at 9-5 Vegas. Batenhorst ended a long rally by bouncing a ball off a defender for a kill. Payne continued her stellar night with a kill and block to get within one. Johnson doubled the lead, but Nuneviller used her court vision to anticipate a Thrill attack to come up with a block. Davis responded with a kill and her first career ace for a 12-9 Vegas lead. Payne stuffed a Thrill attack and Nuneviller capped a 3-0 run with consecutive kills to tie the set again. The Thrill regained the momentum off two Omaha errors, a Maddux block and Anae kill to go ahead 16-12 into the media timeout. An Alisha Glass Childress block extended the run to five, but Nuneviller sided out with a kill. Batenhorst roofed a Thrill attack before ending a long rally with a kill to force a Thrill timeout at 17-15. Maddux stopped the Supernovas run with a kill, but Batenhorst snuck in a tough angle ball for a point. Krause followed with her second ace of the night to get Omaha within one again. Payne and Nuneviller terminated on swings as the two teams traded points in the red zone, but back-to-back kills from Maddux gave the Thrill set point. Glass Childress ended the set with a kill for a 25-22 Vegas win.
The Supernovas offense struggled to a .163 hitting percentage with four blocks and two aces. Nuneviller led Omaha with four kills while Payne and Batenhorst each tallied three. The Thrill hit .244 in the set with four blocks and one ace. Maddux and Anae hammered a team-leading four kills.
Set 4: Batenhorst gave Omaha a positive start to the set by tooling the block. Valentín-Anderson aced Maddux before Hord earned her third block of the night to give the Supernovas a 3-0 lead early. Davis took advantage of some Omaha confusion in serve receive to get her second ace, but Nuneviller kept the lead at two with a pair of kills. A batch of errors followed both teams, but two hitting mistakes from the Thrill opened up an 8-5 Supernovas lead going into the first media timeout. A trio of hitting errors followed Omaha out of the break to tie the set before Davis and Maddux recorded consecutive kills to give Vegas an 11-9 edge. Valentín-Anderson ended the 5-0 run with a kill, but two more points by the Thrill extended the advantage to three. Payne dropped a shot in the back corner. Maddux responded with another tally and then Johnson delivered an ace to force a Supernovas timeout at 15-11. Payne found the floor out of the timeout before Anae quickly sent the action to the second media timeout with a kill to give Vegas a 16-12 advantage. Oblad narrowly missed a serve, which jumpstarted a 3-0 run for the Supernovas as Caffey stuffed an attack before Batenhorst slammed down a kill to cut the Thrill lead to 17-16. Payne slammed down another kill and a Vegas error tied the set at 19. Maddux and Johnson stepped up for the Thrill to break the tie with back-to-back points, but Payne answered with consecutive kills of her own to equal the score. A Vegas hitting error forced a timeout at 22-21 Omaha, but the Thrill clawed back using a Maddux kill and block to retake the lead at 23-22. Nuneviller took charge in crunch time for the Supernovas with two kills in a row to give Omaha set point, but Maddux responded with a kill to send the set into extra points tied at 24. Anae sent her next swing wide with Nuneviller ending the match with her 13th kill to give the Supernovas a 26-24 set win and their spot in the postseason.
Omaha hit .250 in the fourth with two blocks and one ace. Payne (6 kills) and Nuneviller (5 kills) combined for 11 of the team’s 15 kills in the set. Vegas limped to a .103 team clip with eight hitting errors compared to 12 kills. The Thrill had two blocks and two aces in the set as Maddux was responsible for seven kills.