The No. 18 Upper Iowa volleyball team looked poised to upset No. 15 Wayne State College by leading the match 2-0 at intermission, but the Wildcats found their stride and rattled off three-straight set victories to steal the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference victory from the Peacocks on Saturday afternoon.
While Wayne State improved to 15-2 (6-2 NSIC) with the win, Upper Iowa dropped to 12-4 overall and 4-4 in the conference. The Peacocks now sit in 8th place in the conference.
HOW IT HAPPENED...
- The Peacocks found themselves trailing 10-7 early before rallying behind a 7-0 run fueled by five kills between the duo of Anna Winter and Sarah Johnson to take a 14-10 on their visitors. The Wildcats clawed their way back to a 19-18 advantage but Upper Iowa closed out the set with a 7-3 run to capture a 25-22 win.
- The second set was all Upper Iowa as the home team jumped out to a 7-2 lead and maintained the pressure the rest of the way for a convincing 25-17 victory. The Peacocks hit .375 with 19 kills and just four errors while limiting the Wildcats to only eight kills.
- Following the break, Upper Iowa once again got ahead early and held the advantage out to an 18-15 lead. However, the Wildcats would put together yet another rally to tie the game and eventually go up 21-19, a turning point that saw things start to go in favor of Wayne State. The teams battled it out for the final points of set three with the win eventually going to WSC, 25-23.
- In the fourth and fifth set, Wayne State's strengths began to shine. The Wildcats, who came into the match ranked 1st in the NSIC and 26th in the nation with 2.29 blocks per set, conjured up 8.5 denials to slow the Peacock attack down to a .059 hitting efficiency in the fourth and -.095 clip in the fifth. After taking the fourth set 25-21, Wayne State would outlast a late Peacock rally to win the decisive set 15-8.
PEACOCKS OF THE GAME...
- Anna Winter recorded 23 kills, powered by 16 in the first two sets, to lead all attackers
- Carlee Ketchum tallied a career-high 56 assists, career-high 21 digs, five kills (.455), an ace, and a block
- Sarah Johnson hit .353 and notched her first collegiate game with double-figure kills (14)
- Haley Weepie finished with 24 digs and a career-high seven assists
STAT OF THE GAME...
- The Wildcats proved why they are one of the best defensive units in the NSIC by holding the Peacocks to a season-low .162 hitting percentage, the first time Upper Iowa hasn't hit above .200 this season. Although the Peacocks knocked down a dozen more kills (68-56), Wayne State forced Upper Iowa into 31 attack errors, in large part due to their strong presence at the net. The Wildcats held a 12.5-5.0 advantage in blocks and were consistently able to keep plays alive by forcing the Peacocks into multiple looks on a possession; Upper Iowa took 41 more attack attempts than their opponent.
UP NEXT... Upper Iowa concludes its three-game homestand with a Tuesday matchup against Minnesota State University-Mankato at 6 p.m. The Mavericks (11-5, 4-4 NSIC) are coming off a pair of impressive sweeps over two nationally-ranked opponents, No. 24 University of Sioux Falls and No. 9 Southwest Minnesota State University.
