The Upper Iowa volleyball team secured a spot in the NSIC Championships for the second straight season with a 3-1 victory over the University of Sioux Falls on Senior Day in Fayette. The Peacocks recognized their five seniors prior to the match and then won the first, second and fourth sets to move to 18-10 on the season and 11-9 in the NSIC to tie Minnesota State University, Mankato and St. Cloud State University for seventh place in the final standings. Sioux Falls, who received votes in the latest AVCA Division II Poll, fell to 19-9 overall and 14-6 in the conference to place fifth in the standings.

Erica Armstrong, Malissa LeClaire, Bethany Lovhaug, Madi Meier and Lauren Wombles were honored prior to the match. The group has led the program to a record number of wins in the last four years with 66 and the last two years with 39. 

The Peacocks used a three-headed attack from the right arms of Anna Winter (17 kills), Kaitlin Niedert (14 kills) and Lauren Wombles (13 kills) to knock down 54 kills in the match. Malissa LeClaire handed out 46 assists and added 10 digs, while Haley Weepie paced the back line with 19 digs. Upper Iowa may have won the match at the net posting a 12-6 advantage in team blocks led by UIU's middles; Bethany Lovhaug knocked back 7 Cougar attacks, while Wombles added 5 and LeClaire chipped in 4.

UIU controlled the first two sets combining for 27 kills and 10 attack errors, while forcing the Cougars into 14 errors. The home team won the first set 25-18 and the second frame 25-21. Sioux Falls bounced back in the third set and pushed the Peacocks into 11 attack errors to claim a 25-22 win. UIU kept it close in the third thanks to 14 kills, but the errors proved to be too much to overcome. In the fourth set, Upper Iowa jumped out to an 8-0 lead en route to a 25-17 victory. Upper Iowa saved their best for last hitting .370 in the fourth set with 13 kills and just 3 errors.

After wins by Minnesota State and St. Cloud State earlier in the day, the Peacocks knew that a win was the only way to have a chance at the postseason. The three teams finished in a tie for 7th place, but due to strength of schedule within the NSIC Minnesota State claimed the seventh seed in the tourney and UIU took the eighth seed leaving St. Cloud State out of the running. Both MSU and UIU defeated SCSU in their only meeting this season, but the wins were not part of the tiebreaker.

Upper Iowa will now head to play the No. 5 Bulldogs of the University of Minnesota Duluth on Tuesday, Nov. 6 in Duluth, Minn. in the quarterfinals of the championships. First serve is scheduled for 6 p.m. against the Co-NSIC Champions. Minnesota Duluth and Northern State University each earned a piece of the conference title.