Upper Iowa's 25-match win streak against non-ranked, or receiving votes, opponents came to an end on Saturday night. The Mavericks of Minnesota State University, Mankato defeated the Peacocks 3-2 to hand UIU their first loss to a team not appearing in the AVCA Top 25 or receiving votes in the poll since Nov. 4, 2016.

The Mavericks outlasted their guests claiming the first, third and fifth sets by scores of 25-18, 25-22 and 15-9. UIU won the second and fourth sets 25-17 and 25-22. After the loss, Upper Iowa falls to 7-3 overall and 0-2 in the NSIC, while Minnesota State improves to 9-1 overall and 2-0 in the conference.

The Peacocks didn't have an answer for the Mavericks' Morgan Olson and Alivia Garbe. Olson converted 25 kills in the match and hit .327 to lead the MSU offense, while Garbe added 17 kills.

Upper Iowa recorded 61 kills in the match, but 25 attack errors and 6 service errors limited the Peacocks' production. Anna Winter led the team in kills with 15, but Kaitlin Niedert and Lauren Wombles both added 13 apiece. Malissa LeClaire paced the attack with 46 assists and added 16 digs and 8 kills. Haley Weepie tallied 19 digs to anchor the back line, while Wombles and Bethany Lovhaug each blocked 5 Maverick attacks.

After exchanging wins through the first four sets, the teams met at the net for the final frame. UIU trailed 8-7 midway through the set after a kill from Niedert when the Mavericks used a 4-1 run to push their advantage to 12-8. Upper Iowa's final point of the match came on a Winter kill to cut the gap to 12-9, but three straight points by Minnesota State ended the set and match for the home team.

The Peacocks will be on the road next week for three matches including stops against Winona state University on Tuesday, the University of Sioux Falls on Friday and Southwest Minnesota State University on Saturday.