Upper Iowa's volleyball team snapped a four-game losing streak on Saturday with a three-set sweep of St. Cloud State University on the road. The Peacocks skid included losses to Concordia University, St. Paul (#1), Winona State University (#9) and the University of Minnesota Duluth (#2). On Saturday, UIU's defense was on as they held the Huskies to a hitting percentage of .058 thanks to 60 digs and 8 team blocks. The win evened Upper Iowa's overall record at 7-7 and improved their NSIC mark to 1-4, while SCSU dropped to 5-8 overall and 1-4 in the conference.
Upper Iowa's offense was hitting on all cylinders in the first set; the team recorded 17 kills at a .333 clip. The Peacocks held a slim 12-10 lead, but used a 10-2 run to push their advantage to 22-12. The run was highlighted by four straight kills off the right hand of
Kelsey Hinrichs. UIU closed out the set with a winner from
Chelsea Berry claiming the first frame 25-14.
In the second set, the home team raced out to a 5-0 lead, but the Peacocks were up for the challenge after their daunting early conference schedule. Upper Iowa rallied to take a four-point lead, 12-8, thanks to a 12-3 run which included three kills from
Anna Winter. UIU kept the pressure on and built their lead to six, 18-12, and after a short rally from SCSU, the Peacocks finished the set five straight points including two kills by Berry to win 25-16.
Trailing 13-10 in the third set, Upper Iowa scored 10 points on the next 12 serves to claim a 20-15 lead. The 10-2 run for the visitors was highlighted by kills from four different Peacocks. St. Cloud State fought back to tie the match at 21-21, but Upper Iowa scored four of the final five points to pull off the sweep with a 25-22 win. The match ended on a service ace from Hinrichs.
While UIU's offense found success (.231) with 39 kills and just 15 errors, the Husky offense hit only .058 for the match with 31 kills and 24 attack errors. The Peacocks were led by Hinrichs' 10 kills and
Haley Poula and Berry each added 7 kills. Both
Malissa LeClaire and
Carlee Ketchum each notched 15 assists to set up the attack. On the back line, Hinrichs picked up 10 digs, while
Gabby Holmes (9), Ketchum (9),
Lauren Wombles (8), LeClaire (8) and
Ashley Larson (8) combined to lead the team to 60 digs.
Alisha VanderWoude and Wombles each tallied 4 blocks and Berry added 3 apiece.
The team will be back at home in Dorman Gymnasium next Friday and Saturday, Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. Upper Iowa will take on the Golden Eagles of the University of Minnesota Crookston on Friday at 7 p.m. and the Beavers of Bemidji State University on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.
