Upper Iowa snapped a seven-match skid with a four set victory at home against Minot State University on Friday night. The Peacocks used a pair of dominant sets to bookend their win led by young arms on offense and experienced hands on defense. Upper Iowa took the first, third and fourth sets by scores of 25-9, 25-21 and 25-12, while the Beavers claimed a win in set two 25-22. UIU improves to 10-14 overall and 4-11 in the Northern Sun, while MiSU falls to 5-19 overall and 0-15 in the conference.
The Peacocks came out of the gates on fire and it seemed like nothing could go wrong in the opening set. UIU jumped out to a 9-0 lead behind the serve of
Kelsey Hinrichs and pushed the lead to 17-3 during their second service rotation in front of
Bethany Lovhaug. The remainder of the set went back and forth, but UIU was too far in front to catch and took a 1-0 lead thanks to the 25-9 decision.
The teams were much more even in the second and third sets. Upper Iowa took a 14-10 lead midway through the second frame, but their guests used an 8-2 run to rally and claim an 18-16 lead. The two teams were tied at 20-20 and 22-22, but three straight kills from the Beavers gave the ladies in red a set win and evened the match 1-1 heading to the break.
Minot State grabbed hold of the momentum in the third set and took a four-point lead, 16-12, halfway through the set. Upper Iowa called a timeout to regroup and then used an 8-3 run to take an important one-point lead, 20-19. Once again the teams found themselves knotted at 20-20, but this time UIU got back-to-back kills from
Chelsea Berry and ended the set on a solo block by Lovhaug.
After swapping points in the early-going of the fourth set, Upper Iowa began to exert their will on Minot State. With the score tied at 8-8, the Peacocks closed out the set and match with an impressive 17-4 run that included 9 kills for the home team.
For the match, UIU held the Beavers to a -.035 hitting percentage thanks to 11 team blocks and 63 digs on MiSU's 144 attempts.
Ashley Larson and Hinrichs lead the backline with 17 and 14 digs, respectively. At the net, UIU got 7 blocks from Lovhaug, 6 from Poula and 4 from VanderWoude.
The UIU offense ran through
Malissa LeClaire and
Carlee Ketchum, who picked up 25 and 13 assists in the match. The Peacock setters put the ball in the right place so that
Haley Weepie could lead UIU with 12 kills, while Berry added 8 and
Haley Poula and Lovhaug both chipped in 7.
Upper Iowa will close out their weekend at home with the Marauders of the University of Mary on Saturday. Match time is set for 5 p.m. following the football game with Wayne State College.
