A matter of four points separated the Peacocks from the #6 Mustangs of Southwest Minnesota State University tonight in Dorman Gymnasium.  SMSU was albe to edge Upper Iowa by two points in the first and third sets, while the teams exchanged five-point victories in the other two sets.  The Mustangs hit .227 for the night with 66 kills to improve to 15-5 overall and 10-2 in the NSIC, while the Peacocks hit .140 with 45 kills to fall to 10-10 overall and 5-7 in the conference.

The Mustangs got 8 kills from Eisha Oden in the first set and held off a late charge by the Peacocks in the frame.  UIU trailed by three, 18-15, but rallied to tie the set at 21-21.  The Peacocks continued to push and took a one-point lead, 23-22, but SMSU scored the final three points of the set to come away with a 25-23 win.

Upper Iowa controlled the second set thanks to 7 kills from their high-flier Jennifer Mundt.  UIU led throughout pushing out to a seven-point lead, 20-13.  Southwest Minnesota State cut the lead to four, 23-19, but a kill by Tyann Caspers put an end to the Mustang rally and gave UIU a 25-20 victory.

SMSU stormed out to a 5-0 lead in set three but the Peacocks foudn their stride and tied the matche at 6-6.  The Mustangs retook their five-point advantage 15-10, but the home team clawed back into the set and trailed by just two, 21-19, late in the set.  UIU scored three straight points including kills by Mundt and Hailey Brown.  UIU tied the match at 24-24, but SMSU put down the last two points to secure the closely-contested set.

In the fourth set, Upper Iowa came out of the huddle on fire taking an 8-3 lead.  SMSU slowly climbed back into the set and tied the match at 11-11 midway through the frame.  The teams exchanged points until the Mustangs were able to slide out to a 20-17 advantage.  A kill by Haylie Franklin pulled UIU within two, 20-18, but four straight points by the visitors put the control in their hands.  SMSU went on to win the final set 25-20 and claim the match 3-1.

After the match, Head Coach Aaron Nelson said, "It was a great battle tonight by two teams that were playing very high level volleyball.  SMSU is one of the strongest offensive teams in the country and we had a hard time slowing them down early.  We made a few defensive and blocking adjustments in the middle of set 2 and the start of set 3 and we started getting hands on the ball and forced them into a few more errors.  We controlled a lot of the play tonight, but just couldn't finish those close sets.  Things went point for point most of the night and we, once again, showed that when we play our game, we can play with the very best in the country.  It was tough to end up on the losing side tonight because we played well enough to win.  If we keep putting ourselves in position like we did tonight, then good things will happen.  I am extremely proud of our effort and execution against a very good team."

Mundt tallied 15 kills, while Caspers added 9 and Alisha VanderWoude racked up 4 of her 7 kills in the fourth set.  Brown handed out 26 assists, while Janna Hermsen dished up 14.  Kelsey Hinrichs led the back line with 18 digs and Amanda Weiss added 14 digs.  The Peacocks had 10 team blocks paced by VanderWoude's 6 and Brown's 5 denials.