This Week in Peacock Volleyball... Upper Iowa hits the road for the final time this season with a pair of NSIC matches at the University of Minnesota Crookston and Bemidji State University on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 4-5. The Peacocks will look to improve on their two-match win streak and complete season sweeps of the Golden Eagles and Beavers. UIU swept both teams in Dorman Gym earlier in the season. Friday's match will start a bit earlier than normal at 5 p.m. and Saturday's match is set for 4 p.m.
Reversing the Trend... Upper Iowa snapped their seven-match slide last weekend when they returned to Prochaska Court in Fayette. The Peacocks scored a pair of wins over Minot State University (3-1) and the University of Mary (3-0) to improve to 5-11 in the conference and move into a tie with Minnesota Crookston. UIU is now 11-6 this season against non-AVCA Top 25 teams; the Peacocks have dropped all 8 of their matches with AVCA Top 25 teams this season, but only have one of their remaining four matches against a nationally-ranked opponent. UIU dominated the first and fourth sets against the Beavers on Friday to secure the win. On Saturday, U-Mary jumped out to a 16-4 lead in the first set, but Upper Iowa rallied for a 25-22 win and then went on for the sweep. The Peacocks hit .228 in the seven sets with 78 kills, while forcing their guests to hit .043 with 76 kills. UIU also doubled their opponents productivity at the net on defense with an 18-9 advantage in team blocks.
Scouting the Golden Eagles... Minnesota Crookston comes into the weekend after dropping a pair of home matches to #8 Wayne State (3-1) and #7 Augustana (3-0). Kelci Green led UMC against Augustana with five kills and a .300 hitting percentage, while Kassi Green had a banner night with 18 kills and a .204 hitting percentage on Friday against Wayne State. Other leaders against the Wildcats included Rachel Freund, who tallied 9 kills and hit .400, Sierra Trost, who recorded 42 assists and 9 digs, and Ali Schueler, who picked up 17 digs.
Scouting the Beavers... Bemidji State played well at home last weekend in taking three sets from their nationally-ranked guests, but in the end lost matches to #7 Augustana University (3-1) and #8 Wayne State College (3-2). Senior outside hitter Jessica Yost became the program's all-time career kills leader with her 1,301st kill against Augustana. Senior Amanda Tronick led the team with 32 kills over the weekend (3.56 k/s), while Shelby Haney totaled 83 assists over three matches and averaged 9.22 assists per set.
