Orlando has seen enough of Mac Podraza.
After the Valkyries swept Omaha the first two times they played with Podraza on the bench, the Supernovas’ backup setter fueled another win against the Valkyries on Saturday evening.
Podraza entered the match late in the first set and sparked a dramatic turnaround as Omaha earned a 14-25, 25-17, 25-23, 25-15 victory in front of 10,512 fans at the CHI Health Center.
The former Ohio State and Penn State setter has appeared in seven matches this season, but she has only started one match this year – a four-set win over Orlando on March 15. Her only other extensive playing time this season came in a reverse sweep against Indy, two nights prior. She finished with 39 assists, 15 digs and four points in just over three sets of action.
“My job right now is just to be ready,” Podraza said. “Whenever I get my chances, (I try) to go in and push the energy in the right direction, and that’s all I can do. So that’s what I did.”
Omaha Supernovas Ally Batenhorst digs the ball against the Orlando Valkyries. She played the final three sets and finished with seven kills, two blocks and nine digs. Photo by John S. Peterson.
The Valkyries looked poised to earn another sweep against Omaha in the first set. Orlando dominated early on as the Supernovas only recorded two kills during the first time through the rotation. Orlando then went on a 9-1 run that turned an 11-8 advantage into a blowout.
Middle blocker Kayla Caffey said Omaha didn’t have enough urgency early, and their play reflected that. The Supernovas finished the set hitting -.026 with six kills and seven hitting errors on 38 attacks.
“In the first set, we just came out nonchalant,” she said. “It wasn’t because we don’t respect our opponent. Sometimes, we do that in practice too… We just flipped the switch, and we knew that we had to come out and actually compete. We just had a slow, sluggish start going in, but that felt more like us in the rest of the sets.”
With Orlando leading 20-10, Podraza and opposite Emily Londot entered the match and helped stem the tide. Even though the Valkyries still easily won the set, Omaha coach Laura “Bird” Kuhn said the substitutes helped Omaha regroup and provided an energy boost.
“The way we compete at practice and train that moving people in and out, it’s a spark, so it was good, but it doesn’t feel that foreign to them because we do it a lot,” she said. “It was more of an overall response about how we’re going to compete and fight. They set the tone towards the end of the (first) set. We just got to a blocks and digs mindset. So it started then and carried over into the second set.”
The Supernovas (15-5) came out firing in the second set and jumped out to a 9-3 lead, matching their total number of kills in the first set after 12 rallies. Omaha kept the pressure on as the Valkyries wouldn’t get closer than five points the rest of the way.
Omaha, which posted a .387 hitting percentage in the set, was led by outside hitter Brooke Nuneviller, who recorded eight of her 17 kills in the second set. Ally Batenhorst entered the match to begin the second set and boosted the offense. The 6-foot-5 outside hitter tallied seven kills, two blocks and nine digs.
“Certain players are just a spark,” Kuhn said. “She has a really dynamic arm, so that gets us going. There is a physicality component to her being up there and just in front of their attackers.”
After Orlando went up 2-1 to start the third set, the Supernovas scored three straight points and didn’t trail the rest of the set. Caffey recorded a kill, an ace and four blocks in the set. Her third stuff of the set put Omaha up 17-12. Creighton graduate Norah Sis kept the Valkyries in the match from the service line as they fought off four set points, but Caffey ended the comeback with another block.
Omaha middle blocker Kayla Caffey jumps up to block an attack from Orlando Valkyries Natalie Foster. Caffey had five blocks as Omaha tallied 14 in the match. Photo by John S. Peterson.
Caffey finished the match with five kills and three aces with five blocks to match Kaitlyn Hord for the team lead. The Supernovas finished with 14 total blocks, a team record for a four-set match.
Omaha took control of the fourth set after an 8-1 run gave it a 14-5 lead, and cruised to its seventh win in the last eight matches. After the poor first set, Omaha hit .305 in the final three frames.
Lindsay Krause recorded a kill on the penultimate point of the match for her first kill since she had six against San Diego on January 19. She nearly had one of the previous rally, but a diving dig by Sis, Krause’s best friend, kept the play alive.
Camila Gomez finished with 20 digs, while Nuneviller added 10.
After a strong start, Orlando struggled to play consistently. The Valkyries are figuring out new lineups after libero Georgia Brown suffered a season-ending injury and they waived outside hitter Adora Anae in the last few weeks. In addition, starting setter Pornpun Guedpard sustained an injury recently and was limited to just playing the back row. As a result, setter Melani Shaffmaster earned the start in her second match on the active roster after signing with the team on March 23.
Brittany Abercrombie led the Valkyries with 17 kills but got little help from the rest of the offense. Sis provided a bright spot for the Valkyries as she recorded a season-best nine kills in just two sets of action.
Despite the loss, Orlando (12-9) remains tied for third place and in a strong position to make the playoffs. Orlando coach Amy Pauley said they hope the roster changes are done and they can finish strong.
“I know this team is a bunch of fighters. I think that we have had a lot of adversity in the last couple of weeks,” she said. “We’re just pop-corning around with what goes wrong each set and trying to figure out how to play with this new lineup and what we have out there on the floor. So it’s just finding some consistency.”
