The No. 19 Upper Iowa volleyball team used key contributions from all over the court to make program history and the Peacocks' third-straight appearance at the NSIC Championships a memorable night for all. In a hard-fought, back-and-forth match that went down to the wire, the eighth-seeded Peacocks prevailed 3-2 over the NSIC regular season champs, Northern State University, to advance to the NSIC Semifinals for the first time as a program. 

Upper Iowa improves to 21-8 with their first postseason win, which ties the program record for most wins in a single season. Northern State, who came into the match ranked No. 4 in the nation and No. 2 in the region, is knocked out of the conference tournament and falls to 24-5 on the season. 

"What an amazing match by both teams in an incredible atmosphere at the Sanford Pentagon. We had an outstanding crowd here supporting us tonight and we responded with some of our best ball yet. We brought energy and fought for every point from start to finish. It was a total team win and great night for our program. We're looking forward to getting back at it tomorrow night." -Head Coach Aaron Nelson

The Peacocks will advance to play the No. 4-seed St. Cloud State University Huskies on Saturday afternoon. First serve is slated for 7 p.m. at the Sanford Pentagon.  

• Upper Iowa worked its way out to a 14-11 lead in the first set before NSU went on a 6-1 run to capture a 17-15 advantage, which gave the Wolves a lead they wouldn't surrender for a set one win.
• Over the course of the next two sets, neither team captured a lead more than four. The Peacocks battled out to an early lead in the second and managed to find an answer for every Northern State rally in order to stay ahead and tie the match at 1-1. In the third, UIU's three-point advantage at 17-14 was swiped away with four unanswered points by the Wolves, however the Peacocks got right back on top with a 5-1 run and then scored the final three after NSU clawed its way within one score.
• Upper Iowa got off to an unthinkable start in the fourth set with an 8-1 lead after scoring eight unanswered fueled by a pair of blocks and aces. The Wolves ended up clawing their way back into it with a 9-1 spurt, which put the set back into the usual back-and-forth affair with NSU outlasting UIU to send the game to a fifth.
• The intensity of the fifth set was almost too much for the Peacocks as they trailed 5-4 early after committing four service errors and an attack error. NSU pushed its lead to 9-6 before Upper Iowa used a pair of 4-0 runs around a fifth service error to set up match-point at 14-10. The Wolves conjured a block to stay alive but the Peacocks knocked down the winning kill off the hands of Anna Winter to secure the win. 

• Haley Weepie put on a defensive show in the back row with a career-high 41 digs (8.2/set). Weepie also led the team with three aces
• Anna Winter hammered down 26 kills to lead all attackers while hitting .300 thanks to just five errors in 70 attempts
• Carlee Ketchum filled her stat line with a career-high 61 assists (12.2/set), 10 digs, four blocks, three kills, and two aces
• Sarah Johnson led the team with five total blocks to go with nine kills, three digs, and two aces
• Maggie Streightiff (12), Kaitlin Niedert (10), and Claire Milnes (10) all hit double-figure kills and combined for seven total blocks
• Charisma Herr notched a career-high dig total with 19, while Kasey Brennan chipped in 10 and Gabby Holmes added nine