Upper Iowa swept the visiting Warriors of Waldorf University to open their 2016 home schedule on Tuesday in Fayette. The Peacocks took to a new-look Prochaska Court for the first time this season and dominated the match in front of the home crowd. UIU moved to 6-3 on the season and extended their winning streak to three thanks to their 3-0 victory (25-16, 25-12, 25-21).
The home team's offense was a little slow to get started in the first set hitting only .185, but the defense was up to the challenge forcing 10 Warrior attack errors in the opening frame. The Peacocks used an 11-3 start out of the gates to establish the big lead and then maintained it for the remainder of the set.
The Peacock offense came alive in the second set hitting .346 and gave the home crowd a show as the jumped out to a 13-3 lead. UIU used a four-point run at the end of the set to push their lead to a high-mark of 13 points winning 25-12.
At the break, Upper Iowa Head Coach
Aaron Nelson inserted more of his bench into the starting lineup and rotation for the third set. The offense hit .219 with a match high 12 kills in the set, while the defense continued to force their guests into errors on the attack. The Peacocks got out to a 20-12 lead, but Waldorf caught up thanks to a 7-0 run that saw the visitors close the gap to one, 20-19. In the end, UIU scored 5 of the final 7 points to win 25-21 and get the sweep.
"Great team win tonight," said Nelson. "Everyone was able to contribute tonight from number one to number fifteen. We were solid in the first two sets tonight and that gave us the opportunity to stretch our bench a bit and get some of our starters off the floor in the third set."
Alisha VanderWoude and
Anna Winter each had 5 kills in their two sets, while
Kenzie Soeken,
Lauren Wombles and
Haley Weepie all had 4 knockdowns apiece.
Chelsea Berry and
Kelsey Hinrichs added 3 kills each.
Malissa LeClaire and
Carlee Ketchum set up the attack with 14 and 12 assists, respectively. Hinrichs and
Ashley Larson picked up the back line defense with 12 and 8 digs.
Bethany Lovhaug sent back four Warrior attacks at the net with 1 solo block and 3 assisted stops.
Upper Iowa will turn around quickly to open the Northern Sun Conference season at home this week. The Peacocks host the #1 Golden Bears of Concordia Unviersity, St. Paul at 7 p.m. on Thursday; the game will also be live on KCRG 9.3. UIU will head to Mankato, Minn. to line up against the Mavericks of Minnesota State University, Mankato on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m.
