The Weekend's Matches...  Upper Iowa will be on the road against the #2 Mustangs of Southwest Minnesota State University on Friday night at 7 p.m. and then travel to meet the University of Sioux Falls Cougars on Saturday at 2 p.m.  The Peacocks have won their last four NSIC matches, while the Mustangs have been on a tear of their own, winners of their last seven matches.  The Cougars, still trying to find their identity in the Northern Sun, have lost two straight and six of seven in the conference. 

Ranked in the NSIC... Senior Kayla Wagner is ranked in the top ten of two categories in the Northern Sun.  The Peacock middle is second in blocks/set with 1.33 and tenth in hitting percentage with a .320 average.  Junior Melanie Behnke sits in third among the NSIC’s best attackers with 3.81 kills/set, while Amanda Weiss ranks ninth in digs with 4 per set.
 
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 244, while Wagner has added 136.  Mundt, a freshman hitter, has come in off the bench this season to record 187 kills.  Setting the Peacock attack are setters Skylar Lesan and Hailey Brown, who have posted 389 and 282 assists, respectively. Weiss and Danielle Gernes lead the back row with 271 and 209 digs, respectively.  Wagner, Brown and Maryn Fulton have combined for 157 blocks this year.
 
Looking at the #2 Mustangs... Southwest Minnesota State is 14-1 on the year with a 6-1 mark in the conference. The team is led by Mary Groth on offense with 163 kills, while Emilee Gutzmer leads the SMSU attack with a staggering 606 assists.  Rachel Westby rallies the defense with 203 digs.

Recaping last week's action for the #2 Mustangs...Devin Diedrich led the Mustangs to three wins over Augustana, Northern State, and MSU Moorhead. Diedrich blasted 36 kills to go along with a .361 attack percentage. During the week, Diedrich averaged 3.60 kills per set to go along with her five service aces. In the match against MSU Moorhead, Diedrich led the Mustangs with a season-high 20 kills on a .421 attack percentage.Emilee Gutzmer set up the SMSU offensive attack that boasted 156 kills. The freshman setter averaged 13.8 assists per set as she racked up 138 assists in three SMSU victories with 57 assists coming in the 3-1 win over MSU Moorhead. In the win over MSU Moorhead Gutzmer distributed the ball to five Mustang hitters that racked up double-digit kills ; on the week three hitters recorded at least 30. Rachel Westby was a defensive staple in SMSU’s three wins throughout the week as she amassed 49 digs for a 4.90 dig per set average. In the Mustangs’ 3-1 win over MSU Moorhead, Westby recorded a career-high 25 digs to go with 23 service receptions.

Looking at the Cougars... Sioux Falls is 9-7 on the season with a 1-6 record in the NSIC. The team is led by Emily Johnson on offense with 143 kills, while Alexa Reed has dished out 519 assists to pace the attack.  Andrea Odbert has tallied 202 digs to protect the Cougar back line.

Recaping last week's action for the Cougars...The University of Sioux Falls volleyball team wrapped up its conference road swing with a three-set loss to MSU-Moorhead followed by a four set defeat to Northern State. Senior middle blocker and Lincoln product Sarah Kohler paced the Cougar offense with 20 kills in the two matches. She tallied seven kills versus the Dragons and followed that with13 kills and a .296 attack percentage against Northern State, both team highs. Kohler is currently 7th in the NSIC with a .355 hitting clip. Junior setter Alexa Reed, who transferred in from St. Leo’s University (Fla.), continues to shine in her first season as a Cougar. Reed dished 24 and 33 assists, respectively, against MSU-Moorhead and Northern State and sits seventh in the league with an average of 9.86 assists per set (552 total).