Even when the errors come a little too often for her liking, Emily Londot has the green light.
Omaha’s opposite hitter kept swinging away aggressively and finished with seven kills, eight digs and three blocks in her first home start for the Supernovas this season.
Londot helped fuel Omaha’s 25-21, 25-19, 25-18 sweep over San Diego in front of 12,768 fans at the CHI Health Center.
The Ohio State graduate has appeared in all but two matches this season for Omaha (7-3). She moved into the starting lineup for the last three matches and put up 11 and 10 kills in her first two starts.
Omaha coach Laura “Bird” Kuhn said Londot needs to swing hard and provide offense for the Supernovas.
“The way that she plays, she has to set that tone,” Kuhn said. “You have to find ways to keep yourself on the court, and she does that for this team.”
Against San Diego, Londot started strong with four kills in the first set. The 6-foot-3 rookie committed three errors in the second set but regrouped and put up two kills and three blocks in the final set.
Londot said the support she receives from her teammates keeps her focused. After a mistake, they hold hands a little longer in the huddle and remind her to breathe and have fun.
“That (green light) mentality just gives me the confidence to go in and swing at every ball that I possibly can,” she said. “There are more errors than I’d like right now in the past couple of games, but we work on that every day at practice. I’m going to continue having that green light mentality and hitting those because every time I make an error on the court, the team comes in and says, ‘Keep staying aggressive.’ They’re just pouring into me to keep me positive and swinging at those kind of balls.”
Omaha Supernovas outside hitter Reagan Cooper celebrates a point against the San Diego Mojo Photo by John S. Peterson.
Reagan Cooper overcame a slow start to put up a team-high 10 kills for the Supernovas. The 6-foot-2 outside hitter said she was a little nervous before her first home match in over two weeks.
After being reminded to raise her arm angle, she finished the match strong with a .444 hitting percentage.
“I just get nervous for home games sometimes, and so I lean on my teammates for technical things,” Cooper said. “I love the home crowd and home support. I put a lot of pressure on myself to perform well for our fans, so that’s all on me. I love having a packed arena. It honestly makes me feel better once I get comfortable with myself. I love feeling all that support.”
Middle blocker Kayla Caffey tallied five kills and two blocks and provided a spark from the service line. She recorded an ace in the second set to help Omaha stake a 6-1 lead. Then, after San Diego scored the first point of the third set, Caffey went to the service line and ran off a 7-0 run.
Cooper said Caffey hits a hard line-drive serve, but sometimes, that aggression results in errors. However, they can live with her serving style.
“She has an amazing serve, and we see it every day in practice,” Cooper said about Caffey. “Whenever she performs that well serving in the game, it’s like, ‘Oh, there she is.’”
Nuneviller added nine kills at a .409 clip and 11 digs. Middle blocker Kaitlyn Hord had three kills and four blocks. Natalia Valentin-Anderson finished with 34 assists and 10 digs. The Supernovas hit .299 for the match, while San Diego was limited to a .171 clip.
With the three-set win, Omaha recorded its fifth sweep of the season. The Supernovas matched last year’s regular-season total in just 10 matches, 14 fewer than last year. Kuhn also recorded her 100th career coaching victory.
The Mojo, who did not appear at the post-match press conference, suffered their fifth consecutive loss and fell to 3-7 on the season. Kayla Lund led San Diego with 10 kills, while Maya Tabron added 9 kills in the final two sets.
They will get another chance against Omaha later this week. The Supernovas travel to San Diego for a Thursday night match at the Viejas Arena. Even though they won easily on Sunday, Kuhn expects a tough challenge in the rematch, and they need to continue to pressure opponents with their serve.
“Everyone plays their best against us,” she said. “They’ll be a different team when we go out there, so it’s going to be a clean slate. We have to lock back in and execute at a high level.”
