Leading 24-23, Omaha looked poised to win the set. However, Orlando delivered the knockout blow behind strong serving and an MVP performance from Brittany Abercrombie.
Twice.
Ambercrombie recorded a league-record 24 kills with a .524 hitting percentage to lead the Valkyries to their second sweep over Omaha this month with a 26-24, 25-18, 26-24 win Thursday night in front of 8,010 fans at the CHI Health Center.
Despite hitting .321, Omaha coach Laura “Bird” Kuhn said their struggle to pass the Valkyries’ serve limited their effectiveness. The passing woes cropped up at inopportune times, including both rallies in the first and third sets when the Supernovas had set point.
“Orlando is a good team, but we make them look better because of our lack of execution,” she said. “They’re able to adjust to the things that we’re doing defensively. We have to make adjustments and be cleaner. Because we had control to finish the first set and the third set.”
With the victory, Orlando (9-4) handed the Supernovas their first home sweep in franchise history and moved into first place in the Pro Volleyball Federation.
Omaha (8-4) controlled most of the first set and led by as much as 16-12. The Valkyries recovered and took their first lead of the set at 21-20. The Supernovas responded behind back-to-back kills from Reagan Cooper to take a 24-23 lead.
However, Abercrombie notched a kill to tie it up before Kaz Brown blocked Cooper. Courtney Schwan ended it with an ace.
Reagan Cooper passes the ball against Orlando on Thursday night. The Supernovas gave up a franchise record eight aces. Photo by John S. Peterson.
Orlando carried the momentum into the second set and scored the first five points. Rookie middle blocker Natalie Foster recorded two aces during the stretch. The Valkyries tallied eight aces for the match, led by three from Foster and Brown.
“We take a lot of pride in our serving,” Orlando coach Amy Pauly said. “We are very intentional with what we do in practice, and to us, it’s more of an offensive strategy than it is a defensive strategy. We want to score points from the service line. They take ownership of it in the gym every day, and I think we continue to see us even get better at serving.”
Cooper said even though they tried to shake off the missed opportunity between sets, the emotional letdown might have carried over and led to a poor start in the second set.
“In the back of my mind, I was just on my heels a little bit,” she said.
The Supernovas got as close as 10-8 in the second set, but Orlando won seven of the next nine rallies, including two more aces. Entering Thursday’s match, Omaha had given up just 29 aces in 11 matches, with Columbus recording the previous high of five.
“Our first ball touches were not there tonight,” Cooper said. “As a team, we can make plays off of bad passes, but we can’t do that the entire game.”
Omaha regrouped in the third set and led 22-18 before the Valkyries rallied again. Orlando tied the set at 24 by winning five of the next six points, including another ace from Brown, who also had nine kills and three blocks.
Emily Londot notched her 11th kill of the match to give the Supernovas another set point, but it ended up being the last point they scored. Abercrombie notched a first-ball side out. Foster then finished off the match with a pair of kills on overpasses.
Cooper finished with 15 kills, one short of the team record she set earlier this season.
Outside hitter Brooke Nuneviller also recorded 11 kills to go with 13 digs. Middle blocker Kaitlyn Hord tallied four kills and four blocks. Natalia Valentin-Anderson finished with 37 assists and two kills.
Even though Orlando has won both meetings this year, Cooper said they aren’t worried about dropping all six sets. The teams will play twice more this season, giving Omaha the chance to avenge its losses.
“Everything (that went wrong) was something we can fix,” she said. “There were things we can control, work on and improve on throughout the next practices before we play them again. At least we know that we have the potential to beat them. We know what went wrong and what we can fix and that we can fix it and perform at a higher level than those areas in the next game.”
Orlando outside hitter Norah Sis warms up before taking on her hometown Omaha Supernovas. Photo by John S. Peterson.
The match also featured the return of former Creighton All-American Norah Sis. The rookie outside hitter played the last part of the second set as she appeared in her sixth match this season.
Sis said she was looking forward to this match for multiple reasons, including the opportunity to sleep at her home the night before. She started the evening by receiving a mini-volleyball from her best friend, Supernovas rookie Lindsay Krause. The Creighton volleyball team was on hand and watched her and Orlando teammate Maddie Bilinovic play against her collegiate setter Kendra Wait.
“I’ve been looking forward to it since Day One,” Sis said. “I know this game would be so special on so many different fronts. I’m from here. I played here. We know Omaha always brings a great crowd… Seeing my family up there, and friends and our whole team at Creighton came was super special.”
