It was a happy homecoming Friday night for Betty De La Cruz-Mejia.
She played for the Omaha Supernovas two years ago and returned as part of the 44-player Athletes Unlimited volleyball tournament at Ralston’s Liberty First Credit Union Arena. Her Team Orange won the opening match, posting a 2-1 victory over Team Blue.
De La Cruz-Mejia, the team captain, had 10 kills as her squad posted the 25-23, 25-21, 13-25 victory.
The matches are best-of-three but the teams still play out the third set even if one team wins the first two sets — something Team Orange accomplished Friday night.
That’s just one of the tweaks that fans must learn in the concept that rewards individual play over the team concept. A leaderboard keeps track of each player’s individual points and the one with the most at the end of the 12-match series is the winner.
De La Cruz-Mejia has competed in the Athletes Unlimited event all five years and won it in 2022. She finished in the top four last year so was one of the captains who drafted this year’s teams.
The squads will change as there will be three more drafts before the event comes to an end in Madison, Wisconsin.
“This system is something I love,” De La Cruz-Mejia said. “It’s so fun to change teams every week.”
She added she was happy to come back to Omaha, where she was a member of the 2024 Supernovas’ championship team.
“It’s so nice to be back,” she said. “The fans are so nice and some of them have been texting me saying we’re glad you’re coming back.”
Some of those fans were waiting to meet her after she finished speaking with reporters after the match.
Her team led most of the way in the first set and opened a 15-9 lead, leading Team Blue to call a timeout. That squad continued to battle back and drew within 24-23 on a block by Natalia Zilio Pereira but Team Orange closed it out on a kill by Dani Drews.
The second set was close but Team Orange managed to pull away late. The squad won the final three points and captured the set and the match on a kill by De La Cruz-Mejia.
The teams still played the third set, which was dominated by Team Blue. That squad, captained by Madi Kingdon Rishel, rolled to a 12-point victory.
Members of Team Orange each received 40 points per set won and 60 points for winning the match, for a total of 140 points. Players for Team Blue each received 40 points for winning the third set.
“We started so strong the first two sets, but the Blue team changed things in that third set,” De La Cruz Mejia said. “It was a really high-level match.”
Drews led Team Orange with 14 kills while Zilio Pereira had 11 kills to pace Team Blue.
De La Cruz-Mejia said she enjoyed connecting with some of her former teammates Friday night, which included Gina Mancuso-Prososki. Supernovas team president Diane Mendenhall also attended the match.
“I had more time to talk after the match,” she said. “I was a little busy before that.”
The series continues Sunday and Monday at the Ralston Arena.
mike.patterson@owh.com, 402-444-1350, twitter.com/MPattersonOWH
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