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Friday vs. Sioux Falls ~ Live Stats || Live Video
Saturday vs. #6 Southwest Minnesota State - Live Stats || Live Video
NSIC Weekly Release
This Week in Peacock Volleyball… Upper Iowa is on the road for a second straight weekend. In fact, the only home matches for the Peacocks in the month of October are on Friday and Saturday next weekend, Oct. 18-19. UIU will look to snap a current three-match losing streak as they head to South Dakota and southern Minnesota for the NSIC matches. The University of Sioux Falls will host the Peacocks on Friday and then the team will travel to Marshall, Minn. to line up against the #6 Mustangs of Southwest Minnesota State on Saturday.
Last week for the Peacocks... The Peacock volleyball team had a rough weekend on the road in the NSIC with straight set losses to the #2 Bulldogs of the University of Minnesota Duluth and the Huskies of St. Cloud State University. Upper Iowa's attack struggled in the two matches as the team hit just .124 with only 67 kills in the six sets played. Jennifer Mundt led the Peacocks on offense with 20 kills, while Melanie Behnke was right behind her with 19. Chelsea Berry added 11 kills and 11 digs, while Hailey Brown paced the attack with 52 assists and added 5 blocks. Amanda Weiss dug up 30 balls on the backline, while Alisha VanderWoude and Haylie Franklin denied 7 and 5 opponent attacks at the net, respectively.
Last week for the Cougars… Sioux Falls went 2-1 on a three-match swing through the Peace Garden State to improve to 10-6 overall (2-5, NSIC). Junior Emily Johnson paced the Cougars' offense once again, flooring 51 terminations in the three matches. On Thursday, the Cougars erased a 2-0 deficit and stunned Jamestown College in five sets (21-25, 23-25, 27-25, 25-21, 15-8). It was a switch from last year when the Jimmies (15-6), who received seven votes in this week's Tachikara-NAIA Volleyball Coaches' Top 25 Poll, rallied from two sets down to hand the Cougars their lone non-conference loss of the season. Johnson finished with a match-best 23 kills on a .289 attack percentage. Johnson did a little bit of everything, also chipping in seven digs and serving up three aces. She had plenty of help, too, as Kate Hart just missed her first career double-double, putting up 12 kills to go with her fine defense of nine digs. Michelle Ritland added 10 kills while Jordan Calef had six and Samantha Lovell posted five terminations. USF then dropped a back and forth five-set match Friday night at Minot State, losing 3-2 (25-19, 30-32, 25-20, 16-25, 5-15) to the Beavers. Hart netted a career-best 16 kills along with two block assists and a pair of aces, while junior Emily Johnson hit .321 for the match and finished with 14 kills, four digs and two aces. Senior libero Andrea Odbert paced the Cougars' back row defense with 21 digs. The Cougars concluded the weekend with a 3-1 victory against the University of Mary (29-27, 21-25, 25-17, 25-18). The USF offense seemed to be clicking on all cylinders as the squad recorded a .258 attacking percentage after being held to a .156 clip in the previous loss to Minot State. Senior setter Alexa Reed (46 assists) fed the two-headed monster of Emily Johnson and Kate Hart from the opening serve. Johnson finished with 14 terminations and eight digs, while Hart had 13 kills along with a team-high four blocks. Reed chipped in five kills on seven swings (.714) and is on pace to be the first Cougar setter to record 100 kills in more than a decade (Coty Fitts). Four of USF's last six matches have gone the distance and the Cougars are 2-2 in five-setters this season.
Last week for the #6 Mustangs… Whitney Burmeister (OH, So., 5-9, Lakefield, Minn. / Jackson County Central) collected 22 kills on 40 attempts in Southwest Minnesota State's sweeps of The University of Mary and Minot State. She finished with an average of 3.67 kills per set and a .350 hitting percentage. On Friday versus U-Mary, Burmeister led SMSU with 13 kills on 21 attacks and collected a .381 hitting percentage. Burmeister now has 175 kills on the season which ranks her second on the team. Emilee Gutzmer (S, So., 5-8, Jordan, Minn. / Jordan) racked up 69 assists and paced the Southwest Minnesota State offense to the tune of a .292 hitting percentage in its sweeps of U-Mary and Minot State. With Gutzmer setting up the attack, the Mustangs combined for 86 kills on 195 attempts. Rachel Westby (L, Sr., 5-7, Marshall, Minn. / Marshall) fronted the Southwest Minnesota State defensive effort as her 26 digs held U-Mary and Minot State at bay. Westby and SMSU held the Marauders and Beavers to just 56 kills, a .082 attack percentage and forced 40 errors. Westby finished the two matches with a 4.33 dig per set average.
