Story by Supernovas Communications
OMAHA, NE. — In a battle for first-place standing in the Pro Volleyball Federation, the Omaha Supernovas fell to the Atlanta Vibe in four sets (20-25, 25-15, 21-25, 12-25) Thursday night at the CHI Health Center in front of 8,114.
Nia Reed entered the match late in the first set and led the team with nine kills and a .421 hitting percentage. She added five digs and an ace to her effort. Team captain Brooke Nuneviller added nine kills of her own while collecting 12 digs, one block and one ace.
Middle blocker Tori Dixon swatted down six kills to go along with three blocks. Fellow middle Hristina Vuchkova continues to climb up the league leaderboard in blocks with five against the Vibe on Thursday. She also contributed five kills.
Sydney Hilley paced Omaha with 23 assists. Natalia Valentín-Anderson added five, and Kendall White recorded four. White led the Supernovas with 13 digs.
The Vibe (8-3) held the Supernovas (7-4) to a .129 hitting percentage while posting a .236 clip of their own. Anna Lazareva led the Vibe with 18 kills and recorded a .233 hitting percentage. Six Atlanta players eclipsed a .200 hitting percentage. Leah Edmond posted 12 kills for the Vibe, and Leketor Member-Meneh added 10. Edmond also led the Vibe in digs with 17.
Set 1: The Vibe jumped out to an early 6-3 lead behind setter Marlie Monserez’s second kill of the match. Vuchkova gave the Supernovas the 7-6 lead with a kill of her own. The teams traded points until the media timeout. A Shelly Fanning kill from the middle put the Vibe up by two, 16-14. Member-Meneh closed out a marathon of a rally for Atlanta and Lazareva recorded an ace to force a Supernovas timeout at 21-18. Dixon ended the run with a kill. An overturned call gave Atlanta set point, and Magdalena Jehlářová finished it out 25-20 for the Vibe. Atlanta tallied 16 kills, five of which belonged to Member-Meneh.
Set 2: The Supernovas took an early 3-1 lead off an electric Dixon block. Bethania de la Cruz extended that lead with a 4-0 service run to force an Atlanta timeout. Dixon went on a service run of her own, propelled by back-to-back Vibe errors to bring the Omaha lead to 11-3. The Vibe cut the lead to 17-13 with Jehlářová’s second block of the match. Omaha forced another Vibe timeout at 19-13 after a Vuchkova kill. Reed recorded an ace for the Supernovas to bring Omaha to set point, 24-14. Nuneviller recorded her sixth kill of the match and sealed the set at 25-15. Nuneviller paced the Supernovas with four kills and a .500 hitting percentage. Omaha held Atlanta to a -.036 hitting percentage for the set.
Set 3: Jehlářová recorded her third block of the match to get the Vibe out to an early 3-1 lead. A block and kill by Dixon gave the Supernovas a 6-4 advantage. Lazareva gave the Vibe the lead back after her ninth kill, 11-10. A Nuneviller tally put the Supernovas up 19-18 late in the set. Fanning went on a 3-0 service run to put the Vibe up 22-19. Reed tallied her seventh kill to stop the Vibe run. Member-Meneh recorded a block to bring Atlanta to set point, 24-20. Lazareva’s 14th kill gave the Vibe a 25-21 set three victory. Lazareva totaled nine of the Vibe’s 16 kills in the set. Reed added five of her own and logged a .500 hitting percentage.
Set 4: Lazareva went on an early 5-0 service run to give Atlanta a 9-3 lead. Reed ended the run with her ninth kill of the match. Member-Meneh went on her own 5-0 service run, ended by a Paige Briggs kill to bring the score to 15-4, Vibe. Yossiana Pressley tallied two kills late in the set to get the Vibe to match point. An Edmond kill closed it out at 25-12.
The Supernovas next face the Orlando Valkyries for the fourth and final time this season at the CHI Health Center on Saturday, March 16. First serve is set for 6 p.m. CST with television coverage on News Channel Nebraska.
Fans can listen to all the action on the Supernovas Radio Network which is led by the flagship station, 93.7 The Ticket. Radio coverage is also on 95.7 The Boss (Omaha), KRVN (Lexington), KOLT (Scottsbluff) and KTIC (West Point).