By Ethan Wolbach
After knocking off the top seeded South Dakota Coyotes, Omaha will now turn their attention to the Denver Pioneers. The Pioneers have reached The Summit League Championship match the past seven years, as the Mavericks are making their first appearance since 2015.
In the regular season, Omaha has struggled against the Pioneers, as Denver is the only team to sweep the Mavericks in Summit League regular season play. However, a tough five set match on Oct. 15 at Baxter Arena with the Pioneers should have the Mavericks confident coming into the match.
Denver defeated Purdue Fort Wayne 3-1 in the second semifinal match on Nov. 23 to advance to today’s matchup with Omaha. Lydia Bartalo and Tina Boe represent the Pioneers on the the All-Summit League team. For the Pioneers, Bartalo was also honored as The Summit League Player of the Year.
Four Mavericks represent Omaha on the All-Summit League team with Blaschko, Sade, Limback and Clarksonall receiving recognition, Claire Mountjoy also recieved an honorable mention. The Mavericks also rank second in The Summit League in seven different statistics over the course of the season.
In head coach Matt Buttermore’s first season at the helm, the Mavericks are in search of their first Summit League Championship. Meanwhile Denver has won four out of the last five conference tournaments, with their only loss coming last year against the South Dakota Coyotes. At stake in today’s match, an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.
For the Mavericks, Isabella Sade has notched 38 kills on the weekend while Claire Mountjoy has tallied 31 digs. Lydia Bartalo recorded 19 kills and 9 digs for the Pioneers in their match against Purdue Fort Wayne on Saturday.
Riding the momentum from knocking off undefeated South Dakota, the Mavericks will enter Sunday’s match playing hot and looking to dominate early in sets against the Pioneers. Both offense and defense has been firing on all cylinders for the Mavericks as they search for the programs first Summit League Championship.
Sunday’s Summit League Championship match is slated for 3 pm CST and every second of the action can be heard on mavradio.fm.
