Northern Iowa swept Kansas State 3-0 (25-18, 25-13, 25-21) in the first round of the NCAA volleyball tournament Thursday in Lincoln, Neb.

Northern Iowa never trailed in the opening set after taking a 5-1 lead, and dominated the second set as well after grabbing a 6-2 lead. K-State took a 4-1 lead in the third set. Northern Iowa regained the lead 6-5, stretched it to 13-9 and forced K-State to call a timeout. The Wildcats managed to pull within 21-19 and 22-20, but Northern Iowa’s Megan Lehman had a kill and a block to make it 24-20. K-State fought off one match point, but Macy Ubben ended the match with her 11th kill.

Northern Iowa had a .321 attack percentage while K-State hit just .164. Three Northern Iowa players had 11 kills. Nobody from K-State had more than Kaitlynn Pelger’s seven. Caitlyn Donahoe had 25 assists and eight digs for the wildcats.

K-State, 21-9, ends the season on a four-match losing streak.

Northern Iowa, 25-9, will play Nebraska or Maryland Eastern Shore on Friday, with the winner advancing to the round of 16.

Rockhurst loses in Division II opener

Rockhurst was swept 25-14, 25-19 and 25-19 by top-seeded and 19th-ranked Indianapolis in the first round of the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional on Thursday in Indianapolis.

Indianapolis limited the Hawks to a season-low .057 hitting percentage with 29 kills and 22 errors. Rockhurst, which finished the season 28-7, was led by freshmen Katie Loescher and Alyssa Arnold with eight kills each. Freshman setter Whitney Kostal paced the Hawks with 26 assists and nine digs.

• Truman was swept 25-20, 25-13, 25-20 by Southwestern Minnesota State and was knocked out of the NCAA Division II Central Regional in St. Paul, Minn. Megan Sharpe had nine kills and four blocks for Truman, 27-7.

• Nebraska-Kearney advanced in the Central Regional with a 25-15, 25-20, 25-18 sweep over Washburn. It was the first time all season that Washburn, 31-4, had been swept. Jessica Kopp had 14 kills and seven digs for Washburn, while Jessica Fey added 11 kills.

• It took all five games, but Central Missouri fell to Minnesota Duluth 25-18, 24-26, 21-25, 25-18, 15-6 in the Central Regional. The Jennies, 26-7, were led by a double-double from Carly Sojka (13 kills, 12 digs).