The Omaha Mavericks women’s volleyball team began its spring season on March 30, facing crosstown rival Creighton in an exhibition match at Baxter Arena. The Mavericks lost a close contest, falling by set scores of 25-22, 25-16, and 29-27.
The match followed the LOVB Nebraska event and provided Omaha head coach Matt Buttermore with an early look at his team’s progress. “We needed to own serve and pass better at the end of the third set and the start of the second set. That was really the difference in those two sets,” Buttermore said. “But some of the things we’ve been working on, mindset-wise and technique-wise, we saw tonight. That was our goal tonight.”
Omaha returns ten players from last year’s squad that finished with a record of 10-16. The team showed balanced play during Saturday’s exhibition as five players recorded at least four kills each. Faith Venable led with seven kills, while Lara Marić and Hayden Hart also contributed significantly.
Hart is one of three transfers who joined Omaha this season and played major roles in the match. Last fall, Hart started as an outside hitter for Oral Roberts; Maddie Stuesser was a starting setter at Charlotte; Madi Corf played as an outside hitter for San Diego State.
“Hayden may have had her best day of the spring out here tonight,” Buttermore said. “She was very aggressive. I was glad to see that from her.” Venable’s late kill brought Omaha within one point in the first set before Creighton secured victory in that frame.
Omaha had opportunities throughout the match, including a set point in the third after another Venable kill put them ahead 26-25, but Creighton ultimately closed out each set on their fourth match-point opportunity.
