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The Weekend's Matches... Upper Iowa returns home this weekend for the first two of three straight home NSIC matches. The Peacocks will host the Dragons of Minnesota State University Moorhead on Friday night at 7 p.m. and then welcome the Wolves of Northern State University on Saturday evening at 5 p.m. Upper Iowa has won five of their last six NSIC matches to push over .500 in the league and the team remains undefeated at home this season with a 6-0 mark on Prochaska Court. UIU’s opponents both come in on winning streaks; the Dragons have won two straight, while the Wolves boast a three-match streak. The three teams are bunched together in the standings with the Peacocks sitting in eighth place and the Dragons and Wolves tied for ninth just one game behind.
Ranked in the NSIC... Junior
Melanie Behnke is ranked in the top ten of two categories in the Northern Sun. The Peacock hitter sits in third among the NSIC’s best attackers with 3.76 kills/set and ninth in points/set with 4.03. Senior
Kayla Wagner is second in blocks/set with 1.28, while
Amanda Weiss ranks ninth in digs with 4.12 per set. Senior
Skylar Lesan is ninth in the NSIC in assists per set with 9.24.
Leading the Peacocks... On offense, the Peacocks are led by the trio of Behnke, Wagner and
Jennifer Mundt. Behnke leads the team in kills with 271, while Wagner has added 152. Mundt, a freshman hitter, has come in off the bench this season to record 202 kills. Lesan sets up the Peacock attack with 453 assists, while Weiss and
Danielle Gernes lead the back row defense with 297 and 230 digs, respectively. Wagner,
Hailey Brown and
Maryn Fulton have combined for 171 blocks this year.
How the Peacocks Split Last Week… Following a 3-0 loss at #2 Southwest Minnesota State, Upper Iowa got back above. 500 in the NSIC (5-4) thanks to a five-set win on Saturday afternoon at the University of Sioux Falls. The Peacocks won the first two sets, but couldn’t grab the deciding win until the fifth and final one. On Saturday, Melanie Behnke drilled home 17 kills for UIU; she had ten the night before against the Mustangs. Behnke was joined in double figures by Hailey Brown and Kayla Wagner, who each chipped in 12. Skylar Lesan dished out 48 assists and picked up 7 kills as well. Wagner played well at the net adding 2 solo blocks and 5 assisted stops, while Brown recorded 18 digs. Danielle Gernes and Amanda Weiss each dug up 14 Cougar attacks.
Looking at the Dragons... Annie Palmquist leads the Dragons this season with 203 kills, while Heidi Lensing is in hot pursuit with 191 kills. Anna Olson paces the MSU Moorhead attack with 460 assists, while Katy Ness leads the team and the NSIC in digs with 412 on the season. At the net, Kaitlin VanWinkle looms large with 1 block per set.
How the Dragons Won Two Last Week... Heidi Lensing had a solid weekend helping the Dragons to a pair of road wins. She averaged 3.57 kills per game and hit .312 for the week in 64 attack attempts. She had 16 kills and hit .273 in a four-set win at Minnesota-Crookston, and also had nine kills and hit .400 in a sweep of Bemidji State. She had 18 digs and six service aces as well. Lensing is second on the team with 191 kills, an average of 2.77 per set. Anna Olson finished with 79 assists, an average of 11.29 per set, including 54 at Minnesota-Crookston. Olson’s 54 set assists were a season-high and were just two away from a career-high. She also had 18 digs and six kills on the weekend. Olson leads the Dragons with 460 assists on the season. Katy Ness had 35 digs, averaging 5 digs per set. Ness had 25 digs in the win at Crookston to go along with four set assists.
Looking at the Wolves... Kelsey Chambers and Kaleinani Kabalis lead the Wolves’ offense on the court with 173 and 167 kills, respectively. Drew Smith sets up the offense for Northern State and has handed out 614 assists this season for a 10.07 average/set. Chelsea Chavez picks up .97 blocks/set, while Ella Campbell and Kabalis lead the defense with 177 and 166 digs, respectively.
How the Wolves Won Two Last Week... Chelsea Chavez was solid in two NSU victories last weekend. The senior had nine kills and eight blocks in a four-set win over Minnesota, Crookston on Friday night. She backed that up with a 12-kill, 0-error performance in Saturday’s 3-1 win over Bemidji State. Those 12 kills came on just 18 attempts, good for a .667 attack percentage. Chavez also had two aces and five blocks in the win. For the weekend, the Wolves’ middle hit at a sizzling .514 clip and averaged 1.62 blocks per set. Ella Campbell punched her 30-dig membership card for the first time this season in Saturday’s 3-1 win over Minnesota, Crookston. Campbell had 35 digs in the win. She followed that up with 16 digs and a pair of service aces in a four-set victory over Bemidji State on Saturday. Campbell averaged 6.38 digs per set for the Wolves.
