Story by UNK Athletic Communications
Junior outside hitter Asha Regier had a career-high 17 kills to help No. 10 Nebraska Kearney stave off an upset bid from Emporia State (-9, 14-25, -23, -23) Tuesday night at the Health & Sports Center.
UNK (22-3, 12-3) snaps a rare two-match losing streak and records its 33rd straight victory over the Hornets (11-11, 5-9), dating back 1988.
“It feels like we won the national championship, to be honest with you. It was a tough weekend for us and coming into tonight, your confidence is rattled a little bit, and you know you’re
playing a good team,” said UNK head coach Rick Squiers. “We were very concerned about this match and to be able to grind it out like we did and get a win … it’s so much needed for our team right now.”
First-year head coach Ken Murczek rebuilt the E-State roster this year and the Hornets are much improved. They’ve lost in five sets to No. 17 Central Oklahoma, No. 27 Central Missouri and Northwest Missouri and came in having won four of six.
Five-eight junior outside Sandora Sasaki (Kawasaki, Japan/Salt Lake City C.C.) is one big reason why. She averages 4.67 kills per set and had 32 earlier this year in a four-set win over Fort Hays. Sasaki topped that tonight with 33 kills in 76 swings (.316 pct.), in addition to nine digs, two blocks, an ace and assist.
“I cannot remember too many matches where we’ve had to deal with someone like that. There’s a couple of names that pop into my mind but to know she was going to get the ball … she had an answer for everything,” said Squiers. “It’s almost the equivalent of a running back that’s faster than everyone on the field. She is terrifying and the rest of the league hasn’t solved her either.”
UNK dominated the first set as they hit .476 (12-2-21) while holding Emporia to negative .071 (6-8-28). The Lopers had 5.0 team blocks, three coming from freshman middle Mia Berg (Eureka, Mo.), as well as four aces. However, the Hornets flipped the script in set two, out hitting the Lopers by nearly 200 points with Sasaki having 10 kills in 21 swings and serving up four aces.
There were 16 ties and five lead changes over the final two sets with UNK grabbing a 13-6 cushion in the third after an ace by junior DS Jensen Rowse (Minden). But a rare 11-0 run followed as the Hornets had four kills, four team blocks and took advantage of three unforced Loper attack errors. UNK was down 20-17 before closing on an 8-3 run. Berg had two more block assists with Regier adding four of her kills. This was her best set of the evening as she had six kills in seven swings.
“It was a very hard-fought match and there were some real ugly stretches, but we still found a way,” said Squiers. “The best way to survive an 11-0 run is to make sure you have a nice lead to start with. We got stuck in a rotation and it was beyond frustrating. You try your timeouts, try a few subs but nothing seems to work. We just couldn’t put the ball away.”
Emporia obviously went to Sasaki to try and get to a fifth set, and she responded with 13 kills in the fourth set. The Lopers broke up a 16-16 tie with two kills by senior outside Emersen Cyza (Alliance) and another from grad right side Jaden Ferguson (Lincoln SW). However, E-State came back to tie things on 23 on, what else, a Sasaki kill. Finally, the nearly two-hour match ended after a Sasaki service error and Cyza kill.
Regier’s previous career-high of 14 was achieved on several occasions. She reached her new career-best tally in 36 swings (.361) with Ferguson (12) and Cyza (11) combining for 23 more. Thirteen of those came over the final two sets with Ferguson also at seven digs and four blocks. Next, Berg had six blocks and six kills with Rowse having two of UNK’s nine aces. Finally, libero Lauren Taubenheim (15) and setter Peyton Neff (10) dug up a few of Sasaki’s hot shots.
UNK hosts winless Newman on Saturday at 2 p.m. That’ll be “Senior Day” and the team’s final home match of 2023.