Upper Iowa won their ninth match in the last eleven outings on Friday night in Sioux Falls, S.D. The Peacocks improved to 17-8 overall and 10-7 in the Northern Sun Conference after a 3-0 victory over the Vikings of Augustana University. The win also completed a season sweep over Augie for Upper Iowa.
The Peacocks had more fans than usual for the match five hours from home thanks to the UIU football team stopping by to support the team prior to their game at the University of Sioux Falls on Saturday afternoon.
After the win and other results in the NSIC on Friday, Upper Iowa is now alone in seventh place, but only a match behind Wayne State College, who they face in Wayne, Neb. on Saturday. Minnesota State University, Mankato, Winona State University and St. Cloud State University are all tied for 8th place and trail the Peacocks by one match.
Upper Iowa won the three sets by scores of 25-21, 25-17 and 25-21 while posting 43 kills and a hitting percentage of .283. The Peacock defense held the Vikings to 35 kills and a .144 hitting percentage thanks to 52 digs and 8 team blocks.
Upper Iowa slowly crept away from their hosts in the first set scoring four of the final five points for the win. In the second set, the Peacocks got ahead early and never looked back to claim the win by eight points. UIU trailed 7-3 early, but rallied with a 6-2 run to tie the third set at 9-9. The visitors built up a four-point lead, but Augie rallied to get within one, 20-19. A 5-2 run to close the set gave the Peacocks a 3-0 sweep on the night.
Anna Winter led a balanced scoring attack for the Peacocks with 13 kills, while
Lauren Wombles and
Haley Poula each added 9 kills apiece.
Haley Weepie and
Malissa LeClaire paced the defense with 14 and 10 digs, respectively, while
Bethany Lovhaug (5), Winter (4) and Wombles (3) combined for the majority of the blocks. LeClaire handed out 35 assists and added 3 aces.
Upper Iowa and Wayne State will line up for a 4 p.m. start time on Saturday in UIU's final regular season road match of the year.
