With several players out injured, it was a little bit lonelier on the Supernovas bench.
Omaha was without three usual starters — setter Sydney Hilley, outside hitter Sarah Parsons and middle blocker Janice Leao — leaving them with just four bench players, all of whom played.
Even with the depleted roster, Omaha defeated Atlanta on Thursday, but couldn’t hold up against league-leading Indy on Saturday. The Ignite earned a 25-21, 25-19, 25-21 victory in just 86 minutes Saturday afternoon at the CHI Health Center.
Merritt Beason, who started the match on the bench, replaced Emily Londot and finished with five kills, an ace and two blocks.
“It was a little bench over there today, so we were trying to bring as much energy as we could,” Beason said.
Omaha coach Luka Slabe said the injuries to all three weren’t season-ending, but they’d be out for some time. They knew earlier this week that they’d be without the regular lineup, so they prepared setter Brooke Mosher to run the offense.
Omaha Supernova Kiara Reinhardt digs a ball against the Indy Ignite. The Supernovas hit .250 for the match and fell to the league-leading Ignite. Photo by Brandon Tiedemann
“We have a team of 14, and who’s not here is not here. Everybody else needs to step up and perform,” he said. “I never look for excuses that somebody was not available for us to play. Everybody on this team wants to play, wants to compete and get a shot. This was a great opportunity for some of them, and I think we did a wonderful job in Atlanta and not such a wonderful job tonight.”
While Omaha was reeling from injuries, Indy is getting back to its form that helped it win eight straight matches in February and March. Before the All-Star match last week, the Ignite had dropped two of three matches, including a five-setter on March 14 at Omaha in front of 16,838 fans.
The Ignite (16-4) lost both middle blockers to injuries as Blake Mohler was placed on season-ending injury reserve, and Lydia Martyn has missed the last three matches witha foot injury. In their place, rookie Cara Cresse stepped in, and the Ignite signed Emma Clothier, who had been playing in Italy.
Cresse finished with five kills on seven attacks and three blocks. Clothier only had one kill on 10 attacks, but Lauren Certolacci said she impacted the game in multiple areas.
“Emma was the unseen hero. She probably has the worst stats on our team from that game, but her game management today was phenomenal,” Certolacci said. “From a really keen eye of volleyball, I actually thought she had so many little touches on the net balls that were falling over the net. She got digs on defense, served well and really provided a lot of stability that, at the end of the day, with the shake-ups that we’ve had in the middle, has really been lacking. I thought her game was exactly what we needed.”
Anna DeBeer led the Ignite with 16 kills while hitting .361. Azhani Tealer added 13 kills at a .429 clip. As a team, Indy finished with a .357 hitting percentage.
Tealer said having some time off, even though several players participated in the All-Star match, helped refocus and recover for the final month of the season.
“We really love each other, but it’s always good to get away for a second and people going to see people they haven’t seen in a while and go home. It was a good reset,” she said. “ We had a whole week to think about what we talked about after we lost Grand Rapids, so we want to come back in a more intentional way.”
Omaha Supernova Merritt Beason cheers after a kill against the Indy Ignite. Beason came off the bench to record five kills, an ace and two blocks. Photo by Brandon Tiedemann
Each set played out roughly the same way: after a close start, Indy took over after the first dozen points. The Supernovas led 7-6 in the first set, were tied at 6-all in the second and were up 8-7 in the third set before the Ignite went on a run to go in front for good. Omaha (11-11) never got closer than three points after the technical timeout at 16 points.
Reagan Cooper led the Omaha with 11 kills while Nuneviller added 10 kills on a .320 hitting percentage.
The Supernovas finished with a .250 hitting percentage as Mosher tallied 37 assists. Even though it was her second start of the week, Mosher said she tried to keep her preparation the same, whether she is in the lineup or on the bench.
“I go into every game thinking I’m going to play no matter what,” Mosher said. “I think that’s kind of an important mindset to have. You never know what’s going to happen in a game. So if I’m mentally ready the whole time, nothing really changes.”
Slabe said if something had happened to Mosher, Beason would have replaced her in the lineup. From there, it would have been a team effort to run the offense with the middle blockers, libero Elena Oglivie or the outsides all chipping in. Fortunately, it never came to that as Mosher remained on the court at all times.
“We just got to hope that she stays healthy and she runs the show, and we don’t have to worry about that,” Slabe said. “That was actually a plan that we added in place already, leading to the Atlanta match and leading to this match, and hopefully that’s it. Hopefully, now we have moving forward, two setters that can contribute, and we don’t have to worry about that.”
Londot put up four kills in the first set and half, but Beason replaced her as Slabe tried to change the energy and get a boost from the former Nebraska All-American.
In addition, Leyla Blackwell made her third appearance in a match this season when she checked in late in the second set. The 6-foot-4 middle blocker recorded one kill on two swings.
With the lineup changes and limited bench, Beason said the match had an different vibe. She said they were missing the usual intangibles, such as playing with energy and joy.
“Those were little things that we didn’t take care of tonight, and I felt like it was pretty much our side the entire night,” Beason said. “That’s also a good thing, because if we figure those things out — great. But that’s something that we’ve got to bring every single night.”
