This Week in Peacock Volleyball... Upper Iowa has a busy week on tap with three matches on the schedule. The Peacocks will host the Warriors of Winona State University on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. before heading to Minnesota for a pair of road matches this weekend. UIU will play at St. Cloud State University on Friday night and then line up against the No. 7 University of Minnesota Duluth on Saturday afternoon. All three opponents this week are fighting to be one of the eight NSIC teams left standing at the end of the regular season with a berth into the Northern Sun Conference Tournament.
 
Live Options… Live stats and webcasts will be available all week through the links at UIUPeacocks.com/Live. Tuesday's match will broadcast live on KCRG-TV 9.2 and all three matches will stream live on the Stretch Internet App for fans with Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple or Android televisions.
 
Flying High... Upper Iowa has won four of their last five matches by 3-0 scores and carried a set-win streak to 10 after their opening frame victory over No. 2 Northern State University. During the five matches, the Peacock hitters are rolling at a .246 clip led by Anna Winter (59 kills) and Kaitlin Niedert (58 kills). Malissa LeClaire has been setting up the offense with 171 assists (10.7/set). The defense has been very good holding the five opponents to a .084 hitting percentage while averaging 19.6 digs/set and 2.1 blocks/set. Haley Weepie has averaged 4.4 digs/set.

In the Rankings… Upper Iowa leads the NSIC in digs/set with 19.65 and is ranked 10th in the country. The extra digs have led to more opportunities for the offense and UIU is ranked 9th in the nation and leads the NSIC in attacks/set with 40.35. LeClaire is ranked 3rd in the NSIC in aces/set at .46 and Haley Poula is ranked 6th in the conference at .42. Bethany Lovhaug is ranked 5th in the NSIC blocks with 1.1 per set, while Anna Winter is 8th in the Northern Sun in kills/set with 3.6. Weepie (8th) and Holmes (15th) are both in the top-15 in the NSIC for digs/set with 4.37 and 3.55, respectively.
 
Scouting the Warriors… Since Upper Iowa defeated the Warriors in Winona 3-1, WSU has won six of their last eight matches including a 3-0 sweep of No. 7 Southwest Minnesota State University and a 3-1 win over No. 18 Wayne State College.  Last weekend, the Warriors defeated MSU Moorhead 3-1, but dropped a hard-fought 3-2 decision to No. 2 Northern State. Megan Flom leads the offense with 203 kills, while Cori Meyers, Taylor Goar, Madison Rizner  and Paige Christopher are all involved in the attack. Bre Maloney paces the attack with 721 assists, while Becca Pagel (280 digs) and Goar (232 digs) hold the back line together. Sophie Wilker and Rizner patrol the net defensively with 72 and 58 blocks, respectively.
 
Scouting the Huskies… St. Cloud State has dropped four of their last six matches in the Northern Sun, but one of the two wins was a 3-1 victory over No. 10 Southwest Minnesota State in their last match on Saturday in Marshall, Minn. Linsey Rachel leads the Husky offense with 242 kills this season, while Abby Templin has added 107 kills. The SCSU offense runs through setter Maddy Torve, who has 614 assists and is averaging 10.2/set. Clara Krenz paces the defense with 5.15 digs/set with 309 on the year.
 
Scouting the No. 7 Bulldogs… Junior setter Emily Torve, notched her third NSIC Setter of the Week award in as many weeks after the Bulldogs went 2-1 last week. Torve dished out 130 assists to average 13.0 assists/set. She guided the offense to 16.1 kills per set over the course the week and directed UMD to a .275 hitting percentage going against two top-10 clubs. Torve was an integral part in the Bulldogs' sweep over No. 3 Concordia- St. Paul. UMD showed up at No. 7 in the AVCA poll. The Bulldogs (16-4; 9-2 NSIC) defeated Concordia-St. Paul in a non-conference match last Wednesday before falling to No. 10 Southwest Minnesota State University in four sets and sweeping the University of Sioux Falls. UMD has an 18-game home winning streak heading into the week and will host three matches in Duluth.