by PORTLAND, Ore. – The Nevada volleyball team is now 7-2 on the season after picking up the win over Morgan State on Saturday morning, 3-0. The Pack went undefeated this weekend with wins over CSUN, Portland State and now Morgan State along with winning the last seven straight sets.
Along with winning all three matches, Sydney Petersen and Dalyn Burns (Western Shoshone) were named to the all-tournament team with Burns being named the MVP. Petersen, as a middle blocker, tallied 24 kills on 41 attempts for a .537 hitting average along with 11 blocks. Burns recorded 109 assists and seven service aces on the weekend while also helping up front for four block assists.
In the Morgan State match, the Pack had just a .209 hitting percentage but the Bears only hit for .143. Each team had its number of attack errors and service errors but the one category Nevada dominated was service aces, the Pack had three where the Bears had three.
In the first set, Nevada took the first point on a kill from Petersen and never looked back. The Pack never trailed in the first set, holding the Bears to under a .100 hitting percentage and taking it 25-20.
The second set, Morgan State was only able to score 14 points because of the offensive power that Nevada showed. Mandalay Rennon got the start in the set and was first to serve and was behind the service line for five straight points, two of those were aces for the freshman. After a 8-3 lead, Nevada kept pilling on the points to go up 15-6 before the Bears could string two points together.
Morgan State never got within eight points after Nevada went up 16-8 and even increased the lead to ten points, 21-11 before the Pack closed it out, 25-14 on a kill from Hailey Maniglia.
In third and final set, Nevada tied it up, 7-7 on a kill from Kili Robins and held on to the lead the rest of the set and the match. Morgan State went on a 4-0 scoring run to cut it, 18-17 but the Pack responded right away with a kill from Kayla Afoa, 20-18. The tournament MVP, Burns secured the match with a setting kill, 25-22, Pack.
