Upper Iowa took the floor looking to snap their two game skid today against the Huskies of St. Cloud State University. The Huskies took the teams’ first meeting on Tuesday night in straight sets. The Peacocks started well, but fell in five sets to their guests. With the loss, UIU’s record falls to 5-13 overall and 3-7 in the NSIC.
The Peacocks took the first two sets of the match, 25-23 and 25-16, thanks to solid offense and great defense. Upper Iowa hit .242 over the first two sets, while holding the Huskies to just a .086 percentage. The home team won the first two sets thanks to a balanced attack; Kayla Bergman, Sara Vance and Melanie Behnke all took part with the offense. Skylar Lesan tallied 19 assists in the first two sets.
After the intermission, momentum turned and the Huskies began to find their stride. The teams played a close 25-22 third set, but it was SCSU who came out on top. St. Cloud then rolled with the momentum to wins in sets four and five, 25-18 and 15-8, to close out the match and rally for the five-set victory. The Peacocks hit negative percentages in the fourth and fifth sets.
Vance led the Peacock offense with 13 kills, while Behnke added 10 kills. Lesan finished with 37 assists, while Nicky Brown led the defense with 19 digs. Kayla Wagner and Maryn Fulton played large at the net as they combined for 4 solo blocks and 12 assisted blocks.
The Peacock Volleyball team will travel to northern Minnesota next weekend for a pair of Northern Sun Conference matches. Upper Iowa will play the #2 Bulldogs of Minnesota Duluth on Friday at 7 p.m. and the Beavers of Bemidji State on Saturday at 4 p.m.
