In their final home match of the season, the Omaha Supernovas took care of business early for a 3-0 sweep of the Vegas Thrill (25-20, 25-16, 25-23). Ally Batenhorst had one of her best matches as a Supernova, setting a franchise record for single-match attack percentage, hitting .667 with 10 kills on 15 swings.
“She’s a natural spark.” Head Coach Laura “Bird” Kuhn said of Batenhorst.
Vegas jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first set, continuing the lead to 9-5 early on. Phoebe Awoleye, Kelcie Payne, and Brooke Nuneviller would all score in the 7-2 rally to give Omaha the lead, culminating in a service ace from Payne to give Omaha the lead at 12-11. Vegas would call timeout after losing the lead, but Omaha would continue their run, scoring three of the next four. Vegas would tie the contest at 18 and 20, but a late rally on Lindsay Krause’s serve would finally push out the lead for good, with set point being on a Vegas attack error.
The second set was nothing more than an early annihilation, with Omaha jumping out to a 6-2 lead. Even after Vegas called their first timeout, the Supernovas would continue to dominate with scoring five of the next six points. Midway through the second, Ally Batenhorst was subbed in the contest for Reagan Cooper, and while she started her time with a service error, she would make three kills en route a stellar performance. After Omaha would push their lead out to 21-9 with a service ace from Natalia Valentin-Anderson, alongside kills from Payne, Batenhorst, and Nuneviller, Vegas would start to pull back in with a 5-3 rally. Omaha would score two straight points on set point before Batenhorst would collect her fourth kill to win the set.
The third set was evenly played early on, with ties in the first nine of ten points. At the 10-10 tie, Omaha would take five of the next six points on kills from Toyosi Onabanjo, Batenhorst, and Nuneviller to lead 16-11. Vegas would start to get back into the match with six of the next nine points. Omaha would still hold a 19-17 lead, and Vegas would cut the lead down to one point twice in the race to 25. Omaha almost had match point at 24-21 on Lindsay Krause’s serve, but would be overturned on video review with a block touch. Both teams would trade service errors before Batenhorst would collect her tenth kill to finish the match.
Omaha would finish the match hitting .278, led by Batenhorst with 10 kills. Payne would add 9 kills and Cooper had 8. Vegas was led by 7 kills from Hannah Maddux, with Layne Van Buskirk adding 5.
Omaha is now 19-7 on the season, finishing the regular season on the road next week at Grand Rapids and Atlanta. The Supernovas have the chance to clinch the No. 1 seed in the PVF playoffs next weekend with at least one win next weekend. the Indy Ignite clinched the fourth and final playoff spot today in the PVF Playoffs with a four set win over the San Diego Mojo.
