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University of Central Oklahoma Athletics

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Taylor Bevis
0
Nebraska-Kearney UNK 29-7
3
Winner Central Oklahoma UCO 31-4
Nebraska-Kearney UNK
29-7
0
Final
3
Central Oklahoma UCO
31-4
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 F
Nebraska-Kearney UNK 10 19 17 (0)
Central Oklahoma UCO 25 25 25 (3)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball |

UCO Laps Lopers At Regional

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UCO-UNK Highlights

ST. PAUL, Minn. (Dec. 3) – Five different players had kills in an early first-set surge that gave Central Oklahoma quick control and the No. 14-ranked Bronchos went on to a stunning sweep of No. 12 Nebraska-Kearney here Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Division II Central Regional.
 
UCO throttled the Lopers from the outset, jumping out to a 9-2 lead en route to a 25-10 drubbing in the opening set before cruising to 25-19 and 25-17 victories in the final two sets to complete the rout and move into Friday's 7:30 p.m. semifinals against top-ranked and tournament host Concordia-St. Paul.
 
"It was exciting to see our girls play great," said head coach Edgar Miraku at the post-match press conference.  "We served tough and put pressure on Kearney right away.  And we kept up that pressure when they made some runs at us in the second and third sets.
 
"I was very, very pleased with our performance.  It was a great team effort and our kids were hungry to win."
 
The Bronchos, making their first national tournament appearance since 2007, improved to 31-4 in beating UNK for the second time this season.  That win was a tough five-set battle at home on Oct. 17 and this one was a miss-match from the start.
 
Barbara Jackson gave UCO a lead it never relinquished in the opening set with a shot down the line and the Bronchos also got kills from Deborah Ijeoma Njenje, Allison Barr, Taylor Bevis and Jordan Spence in taking their early 9-2 advantage.
 
Jackson had three more kills and libero Whitney Gifford got in the act with a tough dig off a UNK attack that went over the net and fell in for a kill as the lead grew to 17-5, with UCO easily closing out the set for the early lead.
 
The Lopers went in front 3-1 in the second set, but Njenje had four kills in a 7-1 run as the Bronchos went up 8-4.  The lead was still four at 14-10 when Katy Davis scored on a dump at the net, Barr and Njenje teamed up for a block and Karen Montes served up an ace in a 5-1 spurt that made it 19-11 and UCO coasted in from there.
 
Barr opened the third set with a kill on a hard shot down the middle and a solo block and the Bronchos never trailed.  Bevis had six kills as UCO stayed safely in front throughout the set to close out the match.
 
Bevis led the way with a match-high 13 kills and a .333 attack percentage, while Spence hit .429 with nine kills and no errors in 21 attacks in addition to making six blocks.
 
Njenje also had nine kills, Jackson finished with 13 digs and seven kills and Davis distributed 40 aces.  Gifford finished with a match-leading 20 digs and Montes had three aces.
 
The Bronchos hit .306 as a team and had 10.0 blocks in limiting UNK to a .034 attack percentage.
 
 
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