Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Records

Upper Iowa (2-0) | Northern Michigan (0-1) | Michigan Tech (1-2)

Recap

The Upper Iowa volleyball team opened their 2014 season with a pair of come-from-behind wins at the Keweenaw Classic thanks to a pair of fifth set decisions.  The Peacocks stormed back from a 2-0 deficit against Northern Michigan to post wins in the final three sets and pull out the 3-2 victory.  In UIU's second match, Michigan Tech took a 2-1 lead, but the host Huskies couldn't stop the Peacock comeback as the visitors claimed another 3-2 win.

UIU 3 - NMU 2 (16-25, 24-26, 25-17, 25-14, 15-13)

The Wildcats took advantage of a nervous Peacock squad that needed to knock the rust off their game.  UIU hit .036 in set one and only improved to .065 in set two.  While the Peacocks hitting didn't improve in set three, the team's defense, both on the back line and at the net, really picked up.  UIU only posted five kills in the third set, but posted a 25-17 victory.  The offense caught fire in the fourth set claiming 11 kills to just one attack error while posting a .435 hitting percentage and a 25-14 win. 

In the fifth and final set, the Peacocks held a few slim leads, but the Wildcats didn't let them get away tying the score at 10-10.  UIU retook their small advantage and pulled out to a 14-12 score.  After a Wildcat kill pulled NMU within one, Alisha Vanderwoude knocked down a big kill to end the match and give UIU the victory

Jennifer Mundt led the offense with 17 kills, while Hailey Brown added 8 kills and 28 assists.  The team's defense sparked their rally at both the back line and the up front at the net.  Amanda Weiss got her hands on 25 digs, while Haylie Franklin led the team at the net with 5 blocks.

"We got off to a slow start and had to work through some nervous energy in our first match," said Head Coach Aaron Nelson.  "Once we got our defense and block going in the middle of set two we were able to dictate the pace and force Northern Michigan into some errors.  Our team's blocking was dominant at times in sets three and four led by our middles working hard and closing consistently.  Our offense was inconsistent at times, but when we passed well and were aggressive, we came up with big plays in crunch time.  That was a big win against a good team that pulled down 20-plus wins last season."

UIU 3 - MTU 2 (19-25, 25-21, 23-25, 25-17, 15-11)

Upper Iowa had to return to the court quickly for their second match and the team was a bit gassed in the first set dropping a six-point decision to the host Huskies.  In a great atmosphere with a good crowd, the Peacocks found their spark with a four-point win in set two to tie the match at 1-1.  Michigan Tech outlasted their guests, 25-23, in the third set holding the Peacocks to a meager .039 hitting percentage with 12 attack errors. 

Upper Iowa bounced back with a dominating win in the fourth set and then battled back from a three-point deficit in the fifth set.  Trailing 10-7, the Peacocks scored 8 of the final 9 points to post the 15-11 win to earn the match victory.

Upper Iowa's offense spread the kills out among five big hitters in the match with four reaching double figures and one coming up just one shy.  Mundt led the team again with 20 kills, while Franklin, who hit .480 in the match, pounded down 14 kills.  Brown and Tyann Caspers added 11 and 10, respectively, while VanderWoude chipped in 9.  Brown also recorded 38 assists, while Jenna Hermsen handed out 20 assists.  On the back line, Weiss dig up 30 balls surpassing the 1,000-dig plateau, while Mundt registered 21 digs.  At the net, Franklin, Brown and VanderWoude combined for 11 blocks.

"This was a second great win thanks to our balance on offense in both crunch time and throughout the match," said Nelson.  "Our blocking was consistent and successful all day, but the spark on offense that [Haylie] Franklin and Alilsha [VanderWoude] gave us in the middle made a big difference.  The whole team stepped up in crunch time in both matches today from defense to passing to our attack.  Tyann Caspers had to play a few spots for us and played well posting 10 kills and Sarah Frisch came off the bench and delived kills on four of her five attempts.  Amanda [Weiss] was awesome on the back line and surpassed the 1,000 dig mark in her career."

 Stats of the Day

In the fifth set of both matches, the team racked up a combined 21 kills and only 4 attack errors.

With her 55 digs today, senior Amanda Weiss now has 1,015 digs in her career in Peacock blue.

NSIC volleyball teams went 23-9 on day one of the season and 10 squads went 2-0 today proving how powerful volleyball is in the Northern Sun.