THIS WEEKEND IN PEACOCK VOLLEYBALL… No. 19 Upper Iowa is traveling to Sioux Falls, S.D. to make its third straight appearance in the NSIC Championships. The single-elimination tournament is being played at the Sanford Pentagon for the first in championship history. The Peacocks have won seven of their last nine matches to earn the No. 8-seed in the championship field and will line up against top-seeded Northern State University who is currently ranked No. 4 in the nation and No. 2 in the region. First serve is slated for 7:30 p.m. 

LIVE OPTIONS… Live stats and webcast will be available for the match through the links at UIUPeacocks.com/Live. Fans can also stream the game live on the Stretch Internet App on Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple or Android devices.

RECAPPING THE REGULAR SEASON… The Peacocks finished the regular season with a 20-8 overall record to notch the program's second 20-win season in the last three years, just one win behind a school record 21 wins reached in 2017. The 20 wins were fueled by three wins over Top-25 opponents and 15 total sweeps, both program records. Upper Iowa started the season with a perfect 8-0 non-conference record highlighted by a 3-2 win over Michigan Technological University who was receiving votes in the AVCA poll at the time and has been ranked in the Top-25 for a majority of the season. UIU then opened NSIC action where the Peacocks went 5-5 in the first half of the conference slate; Upper Iowa picked up a road victory over then-No. 19 University of Sioux Falls but dropped a couple of tight matches including a pair of five-set losses to then-No. 22 St. Cloud State University and then-No. 15 Wayne State College. In the back-half of the conference season, Upper Iowa finished 7-3 with six sweeps and a big 3-2 win over then-No. 5 University of Minnesota Duluth to seal a place in the NSIC Championships with a 12-8 conference record.

SCOUTING THE WOLVES… Northern State claimed its second-straight NSIC Regular Season Championship last weekend thanks to wins over Augustana University and then-No. 16 Wayne State, which pushed the Wolves' conference record to 17-3. NSU climbed three spots to No. 4 in the AVCA Top-25 poll as well as two spots in the NCAA Central Region Rankings to No. 2. The Wolves finished the regular season ranked second in the nation and first in the league with a .294 hitting percentage. In addition to their efficient hitting, NSU averages 14.8 kills (3^rd NSIC, 3^rd NCAA DII), 13.7 assists (3^rd NSIC, 5^th NCAA DII), 16.3 digs (6^th NSIC), and 2.1 blocks (3^rd NSIC) per set. Seven Wolves were named to the All-Conference Team following their performances this season including NSIC Player of the Year Laura Snider. Snider is averaging 4.1 kills/set this season with a .351 attack percentage to rank fifth in the NSIC while Jenna Reiff chips in 3.6 kills per set to rank 10^th in the league. Ashley Rozell averages 12.1 assists per set (4^th NSIC, 9^th NCAA DII), Jaiden Langlie averages 4.6 digs per set (7^th NSIC), and Peyton Ellingson averages 1.19 blocks per set (2^nd NSIC).

LOOKING AHEAD… The winner of Friday night's matchup will advance into Saturday's semifinals to take on the winner of the No. 4-seed St. Cloud State vs No. 5-seed Wayne State match.