Oct. 6, 2007
Box Score
Upper Iowa entered this afternoon's Northern Sun match looking for their first NSIC victory of the season. The Peacocks played host to the Wolves of Northern State University in the final game of the first half of the conference season. Upper Iowa and Northern State battled back throughout games one and two, but the Wolves jumped out to an early lead and pulled away in game three for the sweep. Northern State improved their record to 9-8 overall and 4-5 in the NSIC, while Upper Iowa fell to 4-16 overall and 0-9 in the NSIC.
Northern State got consistent play from their four top hitters as the team combined for a .257 hitting percentage in the match. The Wolves hit a very high percentage in games one and three (.379/.333), but only got 12 kills with 9 errors in the middle game for a .081 percentage. Upper Iowa only managed a .069 percentage racking up 29 kills but committing 21 errors.
Upper Iowa trailed 20-17 midway through the first game, but only marked three more points on the board as Northern State used a 10-3 run to finish the game off. The run was capped off on back to back blocks for the final two Wolves' points. Early on in game two, the Peacocks and Wolves were tied at 7-7, but an 8-3 run over the next 11 serves allowed the visitors to take a strong lead at 15-10. The run was fueled by Stephanie Nygaard, who found a pair of holes in the Peacock defense to pick up two service aces. The remainder of the game played out very evenly, but the home team was never able to initiate the run to lead them back to a tie. NSU won game two 30-24. After the break, the Peacocks could not keep up with the Wolves. Northern State took an early lead and did not allow Upper Iowa even a chance at a rally. The Wolves completed the sweep with a 30-17 win in game three.
The Peacocks were led by Shea Meyermann (8 kills, 11 digs, 2 blocks), Lydia Lofte (6 kills), Beth Deutmeyer (7 kills, 3 blocks), Tatiana Jackson (20 assists), Keely Jones (2 blocks), and Kim Humpal (2 blocks), and Heidi Laitinen (11 digs, 3 service aces).
Upper Iowa will take the court in Winona, Minnesota as they begin their second time through the NSIC. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. at Winona State University next Tuesday, Oct. 9.
