SAN DIEGO – For the second time in three nights, the San Diego Mojo and Omaha Supernovas needed five sets to determine a winner, but unlike Sunday’s match in Nebraska, the Mojo came away with the victory on Tuesday night at Viejas Arena, 19-25, 25-17, 25-22, 21-25, 15-8. San Diego improved 8-9 on the year with a 5-4 mark at home, while the loss dropped Omaha to 12-7 this season.
San Diego had a quartet of players collect double-doubles, led Temi Thomas-Ailara, who scored a match-high 27 points, recording 22 kills, four blocks and a service ace while also tallying 17 digs. In her home debut, Willow Johnson scored 18 points (14 kills, three blocks, one ace) with 15 digs, and Lindsey Vander Weide scored 16 points (11 kills, five blocks) and had 14 digs. Nootsara Tomkom continued her stellar play, dishing out 50 assists and registering 18 digs.
Ali Bastianelli equaled her Mojo record with seven blocks and had six kills, scoring on six of 12 swings (50 percent), and Shara Venegas had a match-high 23 digs and added five assists.
The Mojo struggled out of the gate, making five errors during the first eight points of the match to allow the Novas to jump to a 6-2 lead. A three-point San Diego run, featuring two kills by Ronika Stone and another by Kendra Dahlke, brought the Mojo back into the set at 6-5. Omaha responded with a three-point run of their own to regain the four-point lead before pushing the lead to eight points at 15-7. A kill from Temi Thomas-Ailara kicked off a three-point swing for San Diego to pull the home side back to within five, 15-10. The Mojo continued to chip away at the deficit with block by Bastienalli making it 16-13. The sides traded points to take the score to 19-16, then Omaha captured six of the next nine points to win the set. Bastianelli had four blocks in the first set and led the Mojo with five points, while Thomas-Ailara chipped in with four points.
San Diego came out hot in set two, jumping to a 6-1 lead capped off by a Johnson rocket for a kill to force an Omaha timeout. A pair of stuff blocks by the Novas made it a 6-3, but the Mojo countered with back-to-back stuff blocks of their own to take the lead back to five. A Vander Weide kill and a service ace by Johnson gave the Mojo a 10-3 advantage before a three-point run by the Novas cut the Mojo lead to four. San Diego earned four of the next six points to go up 14-8 when the momentum shifted back to Omaha with a four-point run to force a San Diego timeout. San Diego took command of set after the time out. A Thomas-Ailara swing took the San Diego lead to 19-14, and a Vander Weide kill and Nova hitting error made it 21-15. Stone collected her team-leading 11th service ace of the season to put the Mojo up, 23-16. San Diego closed out the set back-to-back kills from Johnson and Thomas-Ailara to gave San Diego the set, 25-17.
The momentum built by the Mojo at the end of set two carried over into set three, as San Diego quickly built a 9-2 lead, highlighted by roof blocks by Bastianelli and Johnson. Omaha called a time out and scored coming out of the break, but a pair of long rallies culminated with a Vander Weide kill to make it 11-3, matching San Diego’s largest lead of the match. A three-point run by Omaha was followed by a three-point run for San Diego to take the Mojo lead to 14-6. Omaha fought their way back, taking advantage of second and third chances to cut the lead to two, 20-18, before a pair of kills by Thomas-Ailara took the Mojo lead back to four. San Diego earned set point with a Thomas-Ailara kill and closed out the set, 25-22, after a Nova service error.
Neither side was able to get into a rhythm in the early portion of set four. The Novas took a 2-0 lead but would not push the advantage beyond two points until a Mojo attacking error gave Omaha a 9-6 lead. The sides trade the next six points until the Novas took command of the set, pushing the lead to seven at 15-8. San Diego roared back with a 10-5 run to cut the Omaha lead to 20-18. After a Novas timeout, Omaha scored three-straight points to take the lead back to five. Johnson had a cross-court kill and Bastianelli followed with a roof block to cut the Omaha lead to 23-20. Bastianelli added another roof block, but the Novas collected the win, 25-21, to force a fifth and deciding set.
Set five was another back-and-forth affair with the squads matching each other’s effort on defense. The Mojo broke through with a three-point lead when Thomas-Ailara hammered home a kill to give San Diego a 9-6 lead. She followed that effort with a block to force an Omaha timeout, then scored two more points out of the break to put San Diego up, 12-6. San Diego scored three of the next five points to win the set, 15-8, and the match.
San Diego will be back at home on Friday, April 26 when the Mojo host the Vegas Thrill at Viejas Arena at 7 p.m. PT, then close out the home stand on Monday, April 29 against the Orlando Valkyries at 7 p.m. PT.
MATCH NOTES
- San Diego has won six of the last nine matches.
- The Mojo have played in four consecutive five-set matches, winning three.
- The four-straight five-set matches is the longest streak in Pro Volleyball Federation history.
- Overall, San Diego has played in seven five-set matches, tied with Orlando for the most in the PVF, winning a league-best four of them.
- The Mojo evened the season series with Omaha, 2-2, with both teams winning their home matches.
- Ali Bastianelli has registered seven blocks in each of the last two matches and totaled 19 over the last three.
- Temi Thomas-Ailara has scored double-digit points in 14 of 17 matches, scoring at least 18 points in nine matches including seven of the last 10.
- Nootsara Tomkom has registered 40 or more assists in 11 matches this season.
ABOUT THE PRO VOLLEYBALL FEDERATION
Pro Volleyball Federation is REAL PRO VOLLEYBALL and the premier women’s professional volleyball league in North America. Pro Volleyball Federation will begin play in January 2024 with world-class players and coaches, including some of America’s greatest volleyball players and elite players from around the world. Our entire focus is on ensuring that our level and quality of play, our treatment of players, the quality of our event presentations, and our day-to-day fan experience is world-class and the very best offered in North America. For more information, visit ProVolleyball.com.
ABOUT THE SAN DIEGO MOJO
The San Diego Mojo are a women’s professional volleyball team in San Diego, Calif. and is an inaugural member of Pro Volleyball Federation, the premier women’s professional volleyball league in North America. The Mojo play their home matches at Viejas Arena on the campus of San Diego State University. Tickets are on sale now.