Upper Iowa earned a 3-1 victory over Bemidji State on Friday night in Bemidji, Minn. The Peacocks used a total team effort to improve to 9-8 on the season and 4-5 in the NSIC.
Upper Iowa came out in the first set and dominated the pace of play jumping out to a 14-2 lead and holding off for a 25-12 win. The Peacocks tallied 8 kills in the set with no errors (.308), while holding the Beavers to a -0.49 hitting percentage with 13 errors.
The home team bounced back with a win, 25-18, in the second set forcing UIU into 5 attack errors and a .093 percentage.
After the intermission, the Peacocks' offense found its stride combining for 28 kills and just 6 errors in the final two sets on the way to a four-set victory. In the third set, the teams were tied at 15-15, but Upper Iowa broke away thanks to a 6-1 run that put the road team ahead 21-16.
Jennifer Mundt closed the set with a kill giving UIU a four-point win, 25-21.
The two teams were tied once again at 11-11 in the fourth set, but Upper Iowa was hitting on all cylinders during the second half of the set fueled by 14-3 run to win 25-14. The run included four kills by Mundt and two more off the hand of
Hailey Brown.
"We came out strong tonight and took control of the first set with our aggressive serving and solid blocking and defense" said Head Coach Aaron Nelson. "Bemijdi responded well in the second set and we let off the gas a little going into the break. We did a great job coming out strong again and taking care of our side in sets 3 and4 to close out a good road win."
Brown recorded a triple double for the fifth time this season to pace UIU; the senior from Elroy, Wis. had 10 kills while hitting .346 and added 17 assists and 17 digs. Mundt added 17 kills and 5 digs, while
Amanda Weiss anchored the back line with 30 digs and
Kelsey Hinrichs added 13 digs.
Haylie Franklin recorded 7 blocks to match her 7 kills.
As a team, the Peacocks hit .227 for the night with 45 kills on 43 assists. Defensively, the team had 84 digs and 11 team blocks.
Upper Iowa will battle the Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles late Saturday afternoon.at 4 p.m. in Crookston, Minn.
