Box Score
The Peacock volleyball team continued their home stand tonight with a Northern Sun match against the Wolves of Northern State University. Upper Iowa and their fans celebrated “Dig Pink” night in support of breast cancer awareness.
After the Peacocks won the first two sets by score of 29-27 and 25-17, the Wolves answered right back with back-to-back 25-22 wins in sets three and four to send the match to the fifth and deciding set. So it should have been no surprise that each team was serving with match point just one whistle away. In the end, Alex Fink stepped to the service line and delivered a victory to the home team with an ace that gave UIU a 20-18 win.
The two teams each played very well in spurts and went on impressive scoring rolls, but in the end… the home crowd might have been the final advantage that helped Upper Iowa prevail.
Upper Iowa’s best set came in their 25-17 win; the ladies in blue hit .412 with 16 kills and only 2 hitting errors. For the match, the Peacocks only hit .157, but held the Wolves to a .122 percentage. Northern State held a strong advantage at the service line with 13 aces to UIU’s 5, but both teams were equal at the net posting 13 blocks apiece.
UIU took a 10-5 lead midway through the final set and held serve at match point, 14-12, but three straight points by the Wolves gave the visitors a serve at match point, 15-14. The two teams battled and remained tied at 18-18 when Kayla Wagner recorded her 15th kill of the night and Fink registered the service ace for the win.
Sara Vance had a great all-around match with 17 kills, 6 assists, 4 service aces, and 21 digs. Skylar Lesan set up the offense with 53 assists and added 7 kills and 12 digs. Kayla Wagner and Nicky Brown drove home 15 and 14 kills, respectively. The UIU middle hitters combined for 23 kills thanks to the additional 8 from Maryn Fulton.
Defensively, Danielle Gernes led UIU with 26 digs, while Wagner posted 2 solo blocks and 5 assisted and Fulton and Brown each assisted on 6. In total, five Peacocks reached double figure digs including Emily Sparks’15 and Brown’s 10.
The Peacocks will get right back onto Prochaska Court in Dorman Gym tomorrow afternoon when they play host to the Marauders of the University of Mary at 3 p.m.
