This Week in Peacock Volleyball… Upper Iowa welcomes their travel partner to Dorman Gym on Tuesday night for a Northern Sun Conference match. The Peacocks and Warriors of Winona State University will line up in front of UIU's WHITEOUT crowd for the high-flying bout at 6 p.m. Both teams are 1-1 in the conference after defeating Minnesota State University, Mankato and dropping a four-set decision to #2 Concordia University-St. Paul. The Athletics Directors Honor Roll will be presented between the second and third sets. Fast forward to Friday and Saturday and the Upper Iowa will host the Dragons of Minnesota State University Moorhead on Friday night at 6 p.m. and then face off with the #19 Wolves of Northern State University on Saturday at 2 p.m. All matches will feature live stats and a webcast, as well as be broadcast in eastern Iowa on KCRG-TV 9.2 (Tuesday-Tape Delay at 9 p.m./Friday-Tape Delay at 9:30 p.m.) and 9.3 (Saturday-Live at 2 p.m.) and stream live on the Stretch Internet app available on Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple and Android TV systems.
 
Receiving Votes in AVCA Top 25… Upper Iowa's volleyball team gained votes in the AVCA Division II Coaches Top 25 this week moving from 34 points to 109 in this week's edition. 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. Winona State is currently ranked ninth in the AVCA poll.
 
Home Opener of Note... Peacock volleyball continued to go into unchartered territory on Saturday with their home-opening 3-1 victory over Minnesota State. Upper Iowa overcame a rough second set to post their first-ever win over the Mavericks. UIU controlled play after intermission to come away with the four-set win. Haley Poula led the offense with 15 kills followed by Anna Winter's 11 and Haley Weepie's 9. Malissa LeClaire dished up 26 assists, while Carlee Ketchum added 8 and Ashley Larson 6. Larson led the back line with 16 digs and LeClaire added 13 and Weepie chipped in 11. One of the biggest differences was UIU's play at the net where they registered 8 team blocks compared to just 3 for MSU. Bethany Lovhaug led the squad with 5 blocks, while Poula and Kenzie Soeken each added 3 to the mix.
 
Sophomore Storm... Three sophomores have been leading the offensive attack for Upper Iowa. Anna Winter, Haley Weepie and Haley Poula have been collecting kills at an impressive clip this season. Winter leads the team with 135 kills and a .275 hitting percentage, while Weepie had 21 kills at Concordia-St. Paul and closed the gap with 113 for the season. Poula is coming off her best match of the season with 15 against Minnesota State for a season total of 90. Weepie is third on the team in digs with 127, while Poula and Winter have been aiding in blocking with 25 and 18, respectively.
 
Veteran Leadership… Four upperclassmen are leading Upper Iowa this season both on the court and in the locker room. Senior Ashley Larson and juniors Malissa LeClaire, Bethany Lovhaug and Lauren Wombles are providing the Peacocks with digs, assists, aces, kills, blocks and so much more. Larson leads UIU's defense as the libero and has recorded 202 digs (5.18/set), while adding 44 assists and 10 aces. LeClaire is setting up the attack with 359 assists (9.21/set), but has also registered 19 aces and 137 digs. Lovhaug and Wombles enforce the middle for UIU and have posted 73 and 68 kills and 36 and 22 blocks, respectively.
 
Scouting the #9 Warriors... Winona State enters Tuesday's match with Upper Iowa after splitting their opening two contests in the NSIC. WSU defeated Minnesota State on the road 3-0 and then fell to #2 Concordia-St. Paul at home 3-1. The team matched a season-high with nine service aces in Mankato and now rank fifth in NSIC with 58 aces. Lauren Kudronowicz matched a season high with nine kills for the third straight match at Minnesota State, while Danielle Rampart led WSU in kills in both matches totaling 29 for the weekend. The Warriors are currently 7-3 overall.
 
Scouting the Dragons… MSU Moorhead comes into the week having won their opening two matches in the NSIC. The Dragons defeated Minot State on the road 3-0 and then got the victory in their home opener on Saturday against U-Mary 3-1. MSUM came up with 20 team blocks during the win over U-Mary and hit .230 in the conference opening matches. Setter Ellie Hoyt had 83 assists (10.7/set), while junior libero Monica Vega had 36 digs (5.1/set) last week. Former Peacock and senior Dragon hitter Tyann Caspers knocked down 3 kills/set, while middle Kaylyn Jenkins added 2.86 per set. Freshman middle Kylie Kanwischer had a big week at the net with 15 total blocks (2.1/set) and was named the NSIC Defensive Player of the Week. MSU Moorhead faces #19 Northern State on Tuesday night.
 
Scouting the #19 Wolves… Northern State moved up to #19 in the country after sweeping U-Mary on the road and Minot State at home to improve to 9-1 overall and 2-0 in the NSIC. The Wolves recorded 74 kills, 80 digs, 67 assists, 17.5 blocks, and ten aces in the two wins while out hitting their opponents .367 to .051. The Wolves posted a season-high .516 hitting percentage against the Marauders. Laura Snyder led the team in the two wins with 23 kills and a .645 attack percentage, while Jenna Reiff was second on the team with 13 kills. Ashley Rozell racked up 61 assists, averaging 10.2 per set, as well as 5 kills and 4 aces. Jaiden Langlie led the defense with 18 digs and 4 aces.