Supernovas Serve up Sweep over Fury as Cooper Dominates Former Team

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PVF Omaha Supernovas

Supernovas Serve up Sweep over Fury as Cooper Dominates Former Team

January 24, 2025 - Pro Volleyball Federation (PVF)
Omaha Supernovas News Release


Omaha Supernovas' Kayla Caffey and Reagan Cooper on game night
Omaha Supernovas' Kayla Caffey and Reagan Cooper on game night
(Omaha Supernovas, Credit: Omaha Supernovas)

COLUMBUS, OH. - The Omaha Supernovas, Nebraska's professional volleyball team and first Pro Volleyball Champions, put in its best performance of the 2025 season with a 25-17, 25-15, 25-19 sweep over the Columbus Fury (0-4) Friday night at Nationwide Arena in downtown Columbus.

The Supernovas (3-2) recorded a historic defensive performance by holding the Fury to the lowest opponent hitting percentage in franchise history with a .015 clip. Omaha outside hitter Reagan Cooper, who returned to her former home where she won 2024 PVF Rookie of the Year, absolutely dominated with a match-high 14 kills on a .393 clip against her former team. She also added two more aces to her team-leading total of seven on the season.

Opposite Kelsie Payne had her best outing of the year with eight kills, nine digs and first ace of the season. Brooke Nuneviller saw her match streak of consecutive double-doubles come to an end at six, but she still added seven kills and 10 digs.

Kaitlyn Hord joined Cooper as a former Fury returning to Columbus and she tallied five kills on a .556 hitting percentage with three blocks. Kayla Caffey was extremely efficient with a trio kills on six swings while also putting down three blocks with two aces of her own. Setter Natalia Valentín-Anderson dished out 28 assists and 16 digs while libero Camila Gómez had eight digs and three assists.

The Fury were led by Izabella Rapacz with eight kills while Jill Gillen and Raina Terry both came off the bench to record six kills each. Gillen served well with three aces as part of a five-ace night for Columbus.

The Supernovas are next in action against the Fury once again, but this time in Omaha next Friday, January 31 at the CHI Health Center. First serve is set for 7 p.m. CST with it being the Supernovas National Girls and Women in Sports Night.

Key Notes

The Supernovas set an opponent franchise record by holding the Fury to a .015 hitting percentage. The Fury recorded the third-most attacking errors against Omaha in one match with 28.

Omaha set a season high in aces with five as well as season lows in both hitting (11) and service errors (3).

Although, Columbus recorded the most second-most aces against the Supernovas in franchise history with five.

Cooper set a season high in hitting percentage (.393) and tied her season high with two aces bringing her season tally to seven, which is one short of her rookie year total of eight.

Payne set season bests in kills (8), hitting percentage (.192), aces (1), assists (1) and tied it for digs (9).

Rookie middle blocker Toyosi Onabanjo saw her first professional action in the third set making four attacks.

Caffey set a season high in aces with two while tying her season best in blocks (3).

Set 1: Cooper returned to her former home court with a kill to begin the match. Four hitting errors plagued the Fury early as a pair of service aces by Cooper made the score 8-2 Supernovas early in the opening set. Payne terminated on a couple swings to complete the 7-0 run and a 11-2 Omaha advantage. The Fury fought back with a 6-1 run with two blocks and a Megan Courtney-Lush kill. Columbus cut the lead to 12-8, but two more errors and a Payne ace put the Supernovas lead back at seven. Rapacz terminated for two kills followed by another Fury block to make it a four-point set. Hord responded with back-to-back kills to bring it back to a six-point Omaha edge. Payne continued her dominant set with two more kills and a solo block as part of a 4-0 run with Omaha taking a 25-17 set one win.

The Supernovas hit .171 with Payne leading the group with five kills and a block. The Fury were limited to a .000 hitting percentage as they had seven attacking errors. Rapacz led Columbus with a trio of kills.

Set 2: Abby Walker started the set with a middle kill, but Omaha shifted the momentum with a 5-0 run. Caffey spearheaded the run with an ace while Cooper recorded a kill and Hord put down a solo block. Out of the Fury timeout, Columbus cut the lead to three with a pair of kills from Rapacz. The Supernovas went on to score three consecutive points behind a Cooper kill as well as a Payne-Hord combo block. Gillen served back-to-back aces to make it 10-7. A 5-1 run for Omaha followed as Payne terminated on another swing and continued with a block. Plus, Cooper and Nuneviller put down a kill for a 15-8 lead at the media timeout. Two kills each from Caffey and Cooper tacked onto the dominance as the run grew to 10-2. Cooper added three more kills while a Nuneviller block ended the set with a 25-15 Supernovas win.

Omaha was stellar offensively, hitting .406 in the set with only one error on 32 swings with 14 kills. Cooper was nearly unstoppable with seven kills on 11 swings while Caffey and Nuneviller chipped in three kills apiece. The Fury continued to struggle against the Omaha block by hitting .045 in the set. Rapacz led Columbus with four kills while Gillen was second on the team with three.

Set 3: Hord took advantage of an open slot in the middle for a kill. Nuneviller followed with an overpass termination as the Supernovas built an early 6-3 lead. Rapacz continued her leading night for Columbus with a kill. Terry rocketed a kill before an Omaha hitting error cut the Supernovas advantage to two. Stringer dropped in a setter dump which she followed with an ace to tie the set at nine. With the score knotted at 10, Omaha rallied for a 4-0 run fueled by a Hord block and another Cooper kill. Croatian Beta Dumancic served another ace for the Fury, but Hord took the middle set from Valentín-Anderson for a kill to stop the momentum. Hord's attack jumpstarted a 4-0 run for the Supernovas as Cooper and Payne got into the action with a kill apiece. Caffey added to Omaha's block total with a solo stuff to put the Supernovas in the red zone with a 20-14 advantage. Columbus was hampered by hitting errors all night and recorded two more as the lead grew to 22-14. Cooper finished off her stellar performance in her former home with a kill to end the set with a 25-19 final.

The Supernovas hit .200 in the set as Cooper put the finishing touches on an outstanding performance with five kills on nine swings (.556). Columbus hit .000 for the second set of the match with 10 kills and 10 errors. Gillen and Terry tied the team high with three kills each.

Every match this season can be heard on the Supernovas Radio Network, led by its flagship station KCRO 660 AM as part of Walnut Media. The SRN can be heard in five states with the support of its affiliates in KXCB Bluffs Country 106.5 FM, Boomer Radio 106.7 FM, ESPN Tri Cities, KNCY in Nebraska City, KGMT in Fairbury and KSID-AM in Sidney.




Images from this story

Omaha Supernovas' Kayla Caffey and Reagan Cooper on game night
Omaha Supernovas' Kayla Caffey and Reagan Cooper on game night
(Omaha Supernovas)		   

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