There is no despair in the voice of UNO coach Don Klosterman, despite a season-opening 0-2 trip to Oklahoma and an upcoming road game with conference favorite Truman State.

The Mavericks are 0-2 for the third time in the past four years, but have maintained their streak of eight straight trips to the Division II tournament nonetheless. They play their home opener at 3 p.m. Thursday against Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association foe Missouri Western. Counting the end of last season, UNO has lost four straight for the first time in the 12-year history of the program.

“We played two good teams,” Klosterman said. “In each game, we had about a 30-second span where things fell apart, and I'm sure a lot of people would say that's because you have a young team and that's what will happen. But we're not using that as an excuse. We see little pieces of playing better and better, and then we have to figure out what we have to do to have consistent play for the full 90 minutes.”

UNO gave up the game-winning goal in the final 30 seconds in a 2-1 loss to host Central Oklahoma, just seconds after a Maverick shot had gone off the post. In another 2-1 loss to Midwestern (Texas) State, the hosts scored twice in a matter of — officially, anyway — five seconds.

“I don't know that it was that fast, but it was pretty quick,” Klosterman said.

Like UNO, Missouri Western is 0-2 after a pair of one-goal losses to Lone Star Conference teams. Last season, UNO beat the Griffons 4-2 at home but had to settle for a 1-1 tie in St. Joseph, Mo.

“Last year was one of their better teams, and if they followed up by getting some more good players, they could be a real sleeper, darkhorse team in our conference,” Klosterman said. “I thought they were the most improved team in the league last year.”

Klosterman said several of his players stood out in Oklahoma, including Becca Swanson, Hilary Horvatic, Monica Bosiljevac, Maggie Olson and goalkeeper Lauren Fox.

“Sunday (against Midwestern) it probably would have been 5-1 if it hadn't been for Lauren,” Klosterman said. “On one save, she was horizontal — it was a world-class type of a save — and she had a couple other top-notch ones.”

On Saturday, UNO travels to Kirksville, Mo., to face Truman State, which last year won a pair of 1-0 games against UNO — including in the Division II tournament — after an early 4-1 Mav win. No. 24 Truman was also in Oklahoma with UNO, going 1-1 against the same teams.

“It's a little hard not to look ahead to that one, just because they were out there with us and we watched them a little bit,” Klosterman said. “They did us a favor on Sunday by winning, because that would have been bad for our conference's strength of schedule if the two of us had gone 0-4 there.”

Volleyball team off to Texas

The UNO volleyball team, off to a 3-1 start, faces four key regional opponents this weekend in a tournament hosted by Angelo State (Texas).

On Friday, the Mavericks face Incarnate Word (Texas) at noon and the host school at 6 p.m. On Saturday, the Mavs play Colorado School of Mines and Central Oklahoma.

Colorado Mines is a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, while the other three schools are in the Lone Star Conference. Last year, the MIAA's strong showing in nonconference matches limited the Lone Star to one postseason team — eventual national runner-up West Texas A&M. UNO was one of six MIAA schools to reach the regional.

Thus far, Incarnate Word is 1-0, Angelo State is 2-2, Mines is 3-1 and Central Oklahoma 4-0.

UNO was surprised in its home tournament last weekend by Northern State (S.D.), picked to finish 10th in the 14-team Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, but Northern State also pushed 12th-ranked Emporia State to five sets on the weekend.

Middle blocker Lizzy Mach hit .511 while averaging 3.6 kills per set to lead the Mavs.

UNO golf opens season

UNO opens its women's golf season Thursday at the Iowa Western Fall Invitational.

The Mavericks return six letterwinners from last year's MIAA championship team, led by senior Dani Suponchick, who won two individual titles — including the MIAA crown.

Juniors Rebecca Pollock and Armana Christianson, each of whom won an individual title last year, also return.

— Rob White

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