GREELEY, Colo. -- Wichita State dominated the opening two sets but had to fend off a furious Omaha charge, fighting off the Mavericks in set five to escape with a 25-10, 25-19, 19-25, 21-25, 15-7 win on Friday night at Bank of Colorado Arena.
The Shockers (5-4) continued their momentum from Thursday in the early going, hitting .524 in the first set and .444 in the second to claim a 2-0 lead in convincing fashion.
Natalie Foster had a flawless opening stanza, scoring six times on six swings to lead the way offensively. The Shockers added four blocks and a pair of aces in the runaway win, which started with a 7-1 WSU lead that never shrank below four the rest of the way.
The script was much the same in the beginning of the second set, as the Shockers snatched a 10-4 advantage out of the gate thanks to the efforts of
Sophia Rohling, who poured in six kills in the frame. Wichita State ballooned the edge to 21-12 after an Omaha hitting error, but the Mavericks made things interesting down the stretch with a 4-0 run to cut the Wichita State lead to 22-17. Two Amanda Hardt kills sliced the margin to 23-19, but a service error brought WSU to set point and
Emerson Wilford put the finishing touches on the set with an emphatic kill.
In the third, the Mavericks went on a 10-2 rally to erase an early 10-6 WSU lead. The Shockers battled back to within 17-16 on a block from
Morgan Stout and
Morgan Weber, but Omaha got a pair of clutch kills down the stretch from Brynlee Arnold to force a fourth stanza.
Omaha (0-9) used another huge run to pull away in the fourth set. With Wichita State leading 14-12, the Mavericks scored 10 consecutive points to turn a two-point deficit into a 22-14 lead. The Shockers faced set point at 24-16 but did not go quietly, stringing together five straight thanks to kills from Rohling, Weber and Stout to prompt an Omaha timeout with the lead at 24-21. McKenna Ruch terminated to seal the set for the Mavericks and set the match to a fifth and deciding frame.
It was all Shockers in the fifth, as WSU regained their offensive rhythm from the match's opening stages. A quick 6-1 spurt put Wichita State in front to stay, though Omaha did later cut the lead to a single point.
Gabi Maas recorded the Shockers first service ace since the first set to stretch the advantage to 10-6, and Wilford notched a trio of crucial kills in the late going to put the Mavericks away.
Rohling led all scorers with 16 kills, joined in double figures by Foster (11) and Stout (10), who also led the Shockers with a solo block and seven block assists.
Izzi Strand piled up 41 assists and a team-best 13 digs. Weber finished one kill shy of a double-double, adding nine kills to go along with 10 digs.
WSU held the Mavericks to a .092 hitting percentage, finishing at .264 on the offensive end. The Shockers racked up 15.0 blocks to Omaha's 11.0.
Wichita State looks to sweep the Northern Colorado Classic on Saturday night against the host Bears. First serve is scheduled for 7:00 pm CT.
