This Weekend in Peacock Volleyball... Winners of four straight, Upper Iowa returns to the friendly surroundings of Dorman Gymnasium for the next four matches. This weekend UIU welcomes the Huskies of St. Cloud State on Friday night at 6 p.m. and the #5 Bulldogs of Minnesota Duluth on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. The Peacocks are enjoying the best start to a season in program history and enter the weekend with a 15-3 record overall and a 6-3 mark in the powerhouse Northern Sun Conference. St. Cloud State will come into Friday's match on Prochaska Court with a 12-7 overall record and a 4-5 mark in the NSIC after going 2-1 last week with wins over Bemidji State University (3-0) and Minnesota State University, Mankato (3-2) and a loss to #2 Concordia University, St. Paul (3-0). Minnesota Duluth, ranked fifth in the latest AVCA Top 25, enters the weekend having won twice last week including a 3-0 win over Minnesota State and a 3-1 victory over the #2 Golden Bears of Concordia-St. Paul to improve their record to 15-2 overall and 8-1 in the conference.
 
Rare Air… How impressive is UIU's 15-3 start to the volleyball season? The Iowa Conference sponsored volleyball as a women's sport beginning with the 1982 season and Upper Iowa posted a 2-32 record in their first year. Prior to the 2005 season, when UIU competed as an NCAA DII Independent, the program only registered a double-digit win total four times over a 23-season span. Since moving up to NCAA Division II and subsequently joining the Northern Sun Conference before the 2006 season, the Peacocks have earned 10 or more wins in 9 of the 13 seasons. The high mark for wins for the program since the Iowa Conference began sponsoring the sport 36 years ago is 16, which the team has reached twice. The first time was in 2009 under the direction of Head Coach Shari Robertson when the Peacocks posted a 16-18 mark. More recently Head Coach Aaron Nelson guided the Peacocks to a 16-13 record in 2012, which followed a 15-15 season in 2011.
 
AVCA Top 25 Poll… Upper Iowa's volleyball team gained votes in the AVCA Division II Coaches Top 25 this week and is getting 39 points in this week's edition listed as the third team receiving votes. Upper Iowa is one of nine Northern Sun Conference teams mentioned in the poll including seven in the top 20 and one more receiving votes.
 
Larson Nears 1,000 Digs… Senior libero Ashley Larson is nearing a milestone in her third year with Upper Iowa. The Sumner, Iowa product leads the Peacock defense this season with 316 digs (5th NSIC) and 5 digs/set (5th NSIC) and now has 945 digs in her career at UIU. As a team, the Peacocks are eighth in the country and first in the conference in digs/set with 19.6 which allows the offense more opportunities to the tune of 40.3 attacks/set (9th NCAA/1st NSIC).
 
Peacock Leaders… Malissa LeClaire is enjoying a tremendous junior season averaging 9.3 assists (10th NSIC) and 3.6 digs (13th NSIC) per set. LeClaire leads the Peacocks with 26 aces as well which ranks fourth in the NSIC. A pair of sophomores are leading the attack with Anna Winter knocking down 3.4 kills/set (12th NSIC) and Haley Weepie adding 2.9 a set (20th NSIC). Defensively, Weepie chips in 3.4 digs/set (14th NSIC), while Bethany Lovhaug is leading the Northern Sun blockers with 1.2 blocks/set (21st NCAA).
 
Scouting the Huskies... St. Cloud State went 2-1 last week with a non-conference victory over Bemidji State on Tuesday and a thrilling 3-2 comeback win over Minnesota State on Saturday. The team's only loss on the week was to the then No. 2 ranked team in the country, Concordia-St. Paul. Redshirt freshman Abby Templin and senior Becca Gruber tied for the team lead on the week with 26 kills; Templin also hit .294 in the three matches. Senior Nicole Miller leads the team on the season with 178 kills (2.66 per set) and has also notched 227 digs (3.39 digs per set) and 23 service aces. Miller is tied for eighth in the NSIC in service aces, ninth in total attacks (567), 10th in total digs, 15th in aces per set (0.34) and digs per set (3.39) plus 18th in total kills. Sophomore Marah Mulso is 11th in total blocks (55) and 15th in blocks per set (0.86). In the NSIC team rankings, SCSU is second in total attacks (2,561), third in digs per set (16.96), total digs (1,136) and service aces (102), fourth in attacks per set (38.22), sixth in team assists (809) and team kills (869).
 
Scouting the #5 Bulldogs... The Bulldogs capped off win No. 14 and 15 at Romano this past weekend against Minnesota State and #2 Concordia-St. Paul. The Bulldogs took the first two sets with ease but needed an extended third set to finish off the Mavericks. Senior middle blocker Allison Olley turned in a game-high 13 kills and seven blocks. Junior right side hitter and freshman outside hitter Kate Berg each knocked down eight kills as sophomore Emily Torve tossed up 35 assists to help UMD hit over .300 for the 12th straight time. The Bulldogs notched that number up to 13 consecutive times after it hit .317 for the match against their arch nemesis Concordia-St. Paul. UMD needed four sets to topple the Bears. Junior outside hitter Makenzie Morgen did much of the heavy lifting, knocking down a game-high 19 kills on 50 swings. Sarah Kelly added 15, Kate Berg chipped in 14 and Allison Olley tallied 10 kills to the Bulldog attack. Morgan and Kelly each chipped in defensively adding double-digit digs totals, giving them double-doubles. Sophomore libero Keena Seiffert scooped up a career-high 20 digs while holding CSP to a .244 hitting percentage. Senior middle blocker Allison Olley and sophomore setter Emily Torve each received NSIC honors for player of the week accolades.