THIS WEEKEND IN PEACOCK VOLLEYBALL... The Peacocks are on a roll having won eight of their last ten matches with the only two blemishes coming against No. 2 Northern State University, 3-1, and at the No. 7 University of Minnesota Duluth, 3-0. Upper Iowa is on the road this Friday and Saturday in South Dakota and Nebraska. UIU will line up against Augustana University on Friday in Sioux Falls, S.D. at 6 p.m. and Wayne State College, who is receiving votes in the AVCA Top 25, on Saturday in Wayne, Neb. at 4 p.m. All three teams are coming off sweeps last weekend.
 
NSIC TOURNAMENT WATCH… UIU enters the weekend in a tie with Minnesota State University, Mankato for 7^th place in the standings; the teams are one game ahead of St. Cloud State University and Winona State University. While the Peacocks and Warriors are going against Augustana and Wayne State, the Mavericks are at the University of Sioux Falls and No. 12 Southwest Minnesota State University. The Huskies have road matches at Minnesota State University Moorhead and No. 5 Northern State University.
 
LIVE OPTIONS… Live stats and webcasts will be available this weekend through the links at UIUPeacocks.com/Live. Both matches will stream live on the Stretch Internet App for fans with Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple or Android televisions.
 
STACKING UP AGAINST 37 YEARS…  Upper Iowa has posted 16 wins, tying the second-best win total in program history, so far in 2018 and with four regular season matches remaining on the schedule the team is within reach of one of the best season's in program history for the second straight year. The program soared to new heights in 2017 with 21 wins to set a new high-mark for wins for the program since the Iowa Conference began sponsoring the sport 37 years ago; the team has reached 16 wins twice in that time.
 
IN THE RANKINGS… Upper Iowa leads the NSIC in digs/set with 19.54 and is ranked 14th in the country. The extra digs have led to more opportunities for the offense and UIU is ranked 13th in the nation and leads the NSIC in attacks/set with 39.87. Malissa LeClaire ranks 6th in the Northern Sun in aces/set with .4 and 5^th in the conference in assists/set at 10.64, while Haley Poula is ranked 10th in the conference at .37 aces/set. Bethany Lovhaug is ranked 7th in the NSIC blocks with 1.0 per set, while Anna Winter moved up to 6th in the Northern Sun in kills/set with 3.83. Haley Weepie (7th) and Gabby Holmes (18th) are both in the top-20 in the NSIC for digs/set with 4.52 and 3.35, respectively.
 
LOOKING IN THE REARVIEW… Upper Iowa was just six points away from sweeping the home weekend against No. 18 Wayne State and Augustana in late September in Fayette. The Peacocks dominated the match with the Vikings and lost three tight sets to the Wildcats 26-24, 27-25, 27-25. UIU hit .304 for the weekend with 91 kills, while holding their guests to a .273 percentage and 61 kills. The Peacock's downfall on Friday night was 34 attack errors including 14 Wildcat blocks. Malissa LeClaire passed the 2,500 assist mark in her career at UIU; she now has 2,571 after 77 (12.8/set) this weekend. Lauren Wombles led the offense with 27 kills (4.5/set), while Anna Winter added 24 (4/set) and Kaitlyn Niedert chipped in 18 (3/set). Haley Weepie led a balanced defense on the back line with 33 digs; Gabby Holmes added 31, while LeClaire got to 28 digs and Madi Meierpicked up 24. Bethany Lovhaug and Wombles combined for 11 blocks at the net.
 
SCOUTING THE VIKINGS… Following a sweep at home last weekend, Augustana will start their final homestand of the season this Friday and Saturday at the Elmen Center. The Vikings (10-14, 5-11 NSIC) have won four of their last six games and most recently got a pair of wins over Minot State and U-Mary. The Vikings dropped both the Beavers and the Marauders in straight sets. On Friday vs. Minot State, Senior Courtney Place tied a 25-year-old Augustana record for aces in a single match with eight. Along with her record-tying performance, Place lead the Vikings in kills both nights with 16 Friday and 12 Saturday. The Okabena, Minn. native also hit an impressive .500 on Saturday on 24 total attacks. Overall this season, Augustana ranks fifth in the NSIC in service aces per set (1.60) and sixth in digs (16.84). Offensively, the Vikings are tenth in the NSIC in both kills per set (12.29), and assists per set (11.51). Freshman Avery Thorson has racked up 839 assists and sits 11th in the NSIC at 9.76 per set. Redshirt Freshman Abby Benson leads the team with 61 blocks on the season.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS… Wayne State has won four straight and seven of its last eight matches heading into this weekend's final home games of the regular season. The 'Cats are 20-6 overall and 11-5 in the NSIC (Tie-5th), going 7-2 at home, 8-3 in road matches and 5-1 on a neutral court this season. WSC is 17-3 in 3-set matches, 1-2 in four-set matches and 2-1 in 5-set contests. WSC closed out its' non-conference schedule Tuesday evening with a 25-19, 25-13, 25-12 win at South Dakota MInes. The 'Cats held the Hardrockers to a .090 attack percentage in the win while WSC hit .284. Tarrin Beller and Katie Stephens each had 11 kills in the Wildcat win. As a team, Wayne State leads the NSIC in blocks per set at 2.57, seventh-best in NCAA Division II, and also leads the league in opponent attack percentage at .137. WSC is fifth in digs per set (17.00), sixth in service aces per set (1.60), seventh in hitting percentage (.237) and 11th in kills per set (12.28).