DENVER – The University of Nebraska at Kearney returned to the NCAA Division II National Championship match for the first time since 2005 with a 3-1 (25-23, 24-26, 25-22, 25-19) over Rockhurst (Mo.) in the first of Friday's national semifinals.
 
"It was one of those matches where it was really hard to get a kill," Nebraska-Kearney coach Rick Squiers said. "I couldn't have any more respect for coach (Tracy) Rietzke and his program, the way his kids played and how they handled themselves.
 
"As for us, that's kind of how we play. We found a way to get kills even though sometimes it took a few swings. We played really good defense and controlled the ball a little bit better than we did yesterday (in a quarterfinal victory). We put just enough pressure on them at the service line to take away some options, and we had a pretty good blocking performance."
 
Julianne Jackson had 20 kills on .314 hitting and Anna Squiers added 19 kills while hitting .375 and added six blocks (one solo) as the second-ranked and second-seeded Lopers (38-0) moved on to Saturday's championship match against the winner of Friday's second semifinal, between undefeated Cal State San Bernardino and hometown Regis. Maddie Squiers, Anna's sister and the coach's daughter, had 52 assists.
 
The Hawks (33-8) got 15 kills from Alyssa Woodman and 13 each from Karli Reichert and Mary Rolf. Reichert and Justice Wingate each had seven blocks, while Dani Prusha set 51 assists.
 
Nebraska-Kearney hit .208 for the match, while Rockhurst hit .140.
 
"It was a tough match," Rietzke said. "We just made a few too many mistakes. We knew Kearney was going to be a team that would be a tough out. You just can't make that many mistakes because they don't need our help scoring points."