OMAHA, Nebraska – Claire Hoffman, who had a total of 21 kills in LOVB Salt Lake's first 10 regular-season matches, had a season-best 14 Thursday night as her team rallied for a 16-25, 25-23, 25-23, 25-19 victory at LOVB Omaha.
It left Salt Lake, which hit .331 and had eight blocks in the fourth set, 5-6 as it moved into third place in the standings.
Match Stats | LOVB Salt Lake roster | LOVB Omaha roster
"This was a fun battle. Not the cleanest battle, but a fun one for us," Salt Lake coach Tama Miyashiro said. "We were just trying to start with a clean slate for the second half of the season and it was really powerful to see our crew reset after every play.
"Don't get me wrong: There were some ugly plays. But our ability to reset was incredible. Volleyball is like that. We play against good teams all the time, so it's not going to always be pretty but I'm just very proud of our crew."
Hoffman hit .313 and also had season highs of three blocks and 10 digs to go with an assist.
Fellow outside Roni Jones-Perry led the team with 18 kills – seven in the second set – and hit .342. She also added three blocks, 11 digs and an assist.
Opposite Heidy Casanova had 12 kills, a block and seven digs and middle Haleigh Washington had seven kills while hitting .313 and added an assist, three digs and four blocks, two late in the fifth set. Haleigh's assist was a thing of beauty, a back set that led to Hoffman's kill that ended the third set.
Middle Tori Dixon had her best offensive match of the season with eight kills in 17 errorless attacks to hit .471 and added a block and three digs.
Setter Jordyn Poulter had 44 assists, a kill in her only try and eight digs. Libero Manami Kojima had 18 digs and six assists.
"We are trying so hard to build on each day," Jordyn said. "When we met last night as a team, we are being so non-forward thinking and take what we have in the present. I can't even tell who we play next."
That would be Atlanta in Houston on Saturday, March 15.
Omaha and Salt Lake played just once previously and Omaha won in five. They play again March 29 in Austin.
Omaha, which lost its fifth in a row overall and dropped to 4-6 in the regular season, hit .217 in Liberty First Credit Union Arena and was out-blocked 14-8. Omaha had seven aces and just three errors.
After Omaha dominated the first set, Salt Lake pulled away late to win the second. Omaha was ahead 23-22 in the third before surrendering the last three points. In the fourth, Salt Lake broke a 17-17 tie and ran away with it.
Madi Kubik-Banks, who had a total of three kills in Omaha's first seven matches, had a season-best 19, eight in the second set, giving her 50 in the last three matches. Against Salt Lake, she also had an ace, a block and eight digs.
"Madi is playing extraordinarily well," Omaha coach Suzie Fritz said. "I really like what she's doing. We asked her maybe a month or so ago to try to have a higher tolerance for risk and to go generate more kills. She's come in and done that for us and she's done it back to back to back."
Jordan Larson had 11 kills, aces, two blocks, 11 digs and an assist. Kimberly Drewniok had seven kills with two errors in 13 attacks but did not play the last two sets. Audriana Fitzmorris had three kills, two aces and a dig. Omaha was without Lauren Stivrins, who averages 1.8 kills per set.
Setter Laura Dijkema had 43 assists, two kills, an ace and 14 digs. Libero Justine Wong-Orantes had 12 digs and seven assists.
"My head's everywhere. I'm really proud of them. I felt like we just continue to endure," said Suzie, whose team is now in fifth place, just one game ahead of LOVB Madison in the standings. "I don't want to use it as an excuse but we're fighting through some stuff and we've been fighting through it for weeks and we're having a hard time getting healthy bodies out there that can stay out there for very long. It creates a lot of ebbs and flows, both in terms of our performance and our lineups.
"I think we're fighting like crazy and staying in it and I was really proud of them."
League One Volleyball action continues Friday in Atlanta where LOVB Atlanta entertains LOVB Houston for a 7:30 p.m. Eastern start that can be seen on LOVB Live, DAZN and the LOVB YouTube channel.
