Box Score
Box Score

Winona State scored the final five points of tonight's match to claim the fifth and deciding set by a 15-10 score and remain undefeated, 3-0, in Northern Sun Conference play, while Upper Iowa drops to 6-5 overall and 0-3 in the conference.  The loss came despite the Peacocks' impressive hitting performance through the first four sets and superior defense at the net. 

UIU battled through an early match injury to rally in the fourth set and force the deciding set.  The Peacocks took set one, 25-22, after recording 16 kills and just 3 attack errors while hitting .406.  The visitors continued to hit well over the next two sets, but fell 25-19 in set two and then lost a thrilling 34-32 decision in set three. 

The Peacocks rallied for a 25-22 come-from-behind win in set four to tie the match 2-2.  The Warriors held a 14-9 lead midway through the set, but Upper Iowa used a 6-1 run to tie the set at 15-15.  The visitors finished the set with a big block at the net shared by Kayla Wagner and Hailey Brown.

In the fifth set, the teams battled back and forth and were tied at 10-10, but the home team closed out the set and the match with five straight points.  The Peacocks managed only four kills in the set while racking up five attack errors.

For the match, UIU hit .283 with 66 kills, while WSU hit .255 with 81 kills. 

Melanie Behnke led the way for UIU on offense with 24 kills, while Jennifer Mundt added 13 and Wagner chipped in 10.  Brown moved into the primary setter role due to an injury to Skylar Lesan and handed out 28 assists to go along with 7 kills,8 digs and 8 blocks.  Lesan had 22 assists prior to her injury.  Amanda Weiss and Danielle Gernes spearheaded the Peacock defense with 20 and 13 digs, respectively, while Wagner added 8 blocks as well.

The Peacocks will journey to North Dakota this weekend for a NSIC road weekend at Minot State on Friday night and U-Mary on Saturday evening.  Links to both a webstream and live stats can be found on the UIU Volleyball Schedule page.