COLUMBUS, OH. – The Omaha Supernovas, Nebraska’s professional volleyball team and first Pro Volleyball Champions, put in its best performance of the 2025 season with a 25-17, 25-15, 25-19 sweep over the Columbus Fury (0-4) Friday night at Nationwide Arena in downtown Columbus.
The Supernovas (3-2) recorded a historic defensive performance by holding the Fury to the lowest opponent hitting percentage in franchise history with a .015 clip. Omaha outside hitter Reagan Cooper, who returned to her former home where she won 2024 PVF Rookie of the Year, absolutely dominated with a match-high 14 kills on a .393 clip against her former team. She also added two more aces to her team-leading total of seven on the season.
Opposite Kelsie Payne had her best outing of the year with eight kills, nine digs and first ace of the season. Brooke Nuneviller saw her match streak of consecutive double-doubles come to an end at six, but she still added seven kills and 10 digs.
Kaitlyn Hord joined Cooper as a former Fury returning to Columbus and she tallied five kills on a .556 hitting percentage with three blocks. Kayla Caffey was extremely efficient with a trio kills on six swings while also putting down three blocks with two aces of her own. Setter Natalia Valentín-Anderson dished out 28 assists and 16 digs while libero Camila Gómez had eight digs and three assists.
The Fury were led by Izabella Rapacz with eight kills while Jill Gillen and Raina Terry both came off the bench to record six kills each. Gillen served well with three aces as part of a five-ace night for Columbus.
The Supernovas are next in action against the Fury once again, but this time in Omaha next Friday, January 31 at the CHI Health Center. First serve is set for 7 p.m. CST with it being the Supernovas National Girls and Women in Sports Night.
Set 1: Cooper returned to her former home court with a kill to begin the match. Four hitting errors plagued the Fury early as a pair of service aces by Cooper made the score 8-2 Supernovas early in the opening set. Payne terminated on a couple swings to complete the 7-0 run and a 11-2 Omaha advantage. The Fury fought back with a 6-1 run with two blocks and a Megan Courtney-Lush kill. Columbus cut the lead to 12-8, but two more errors and a Payne ace put the Supernovas lead back at seven. Rapacz terminated for two kills followed by another Fury block to make it a four-point set. Hord responded with back-to-back kills to bring it back to a six-point Omaha edge. Payne continued her dominant set with two more kills and a solo block as part of a 4-0 run with Omaha taking a 25-17 set one win.
Set 2: Abby Walker started the set with a middle kill, but Omaha shifted the momentum with a 5-0 run. Caffey spearheaded the run with an ace while Cooper recorded a kill and Hord put down a solo block. Out of the Fury timeout, Columbus cut the lead to three with a pair of kills from Rapacz. The Supernovas went on to score three consecutive points behind a Cooper kill as well as a Payne-Hord combo block. Gillen served back-to-back aces to make it 10-7. A 5-1 run for Omaha followed as Payne terminated on another swing and continued with a block. Plus, Cooper and Nuneviller put down a kill for a 15-8 lead at the media timeout. Two kills each from Caffey and Cooper tacked onto the dominance as the run grew to 10-2. Cooper added three more kills while a Nuneviller block ended the set with a 25-15 Supernovas win.
Set 3: Hord took advantage of an open slot in the middle for a kill. Nuneviller followed with an overpass termination as the Supernovas built an early 6-3 lead. Rapacz continued her leading night for Columbus with a kill. Terry rocketed a kill before an Omaha hitting error cut the Supernovas advantage to two. Stringer dropped in a setter dump which she followed with an ace to tie the set at nine. With the score knotted at 10, Omaha rallied for a 4-0 run fueled by a Hord block and another Cooper kill. Croatian Beta Dumancic served another ace for the Fury, but Hord took the middle set from Valentín-Anderson for a kill to stop the momentum. Hord’s attack jumpstarted a 4-0 run for the Supernovas as Cooper and Payne got into the action with a kill apiece. Caffey added to Omaha’s block total with a solo stuff to put the Supernovas in the red zone with a 20-14 advantage. Columbus was hampered by hitting errors all night and recorded two more as the lead grew to 22-14. Cooper finished off her stellar performance in her former home with a kill to end the set with a 25-19 final.
