The Peacock volleyball team extended their win streak to six games with two wins on Friday at the Hampton Inn Invitational hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha, Wis. Upper Iowa took care of business against Purdue University-Northwest for a quick 3-0 victory and then capped off the day with a sweep of the Parkside Rangers. UIU is now 6-0 on the season while Purdue-Northwest sits at 2-3 overall and UW-Parkside is 2-4.
With her twelfth dig of the day, libero Haley Weepie became the eighth Peacock to reach the 1,000 career digs milestone since Upper Iowa's move to NCAA Division II. Fellow senior Anna Winter is also approaching a major milestone in Peacock blue as the outside hitter needs just 22 more kills to reach 1,000 in her career.
Match One: Upper Iowa 3, Purdue-Northwest 0
TURNING POINT... In what started as a back-and-forth match where neither team led by more than three, the two teams traded points out to a 10-all draw. Upper Iowa then stepped it up a notch to score 32 of the next 38 points, highlighted by a pair of 9-0 runs, to win set one 25-13 and take a commanding 17-3 lead in the second frame. The Peacocks closed out set number two with the largest differential of the match, 25-9, and did not let up on the gas pedal in the third set for a 25-12 win.
PEACOCKS OF THE GAME...
- Kaitlin Niedert hit extremely well from the outside position, knocking down eight kills with just one error in 11 swings for a season-high .636 hitting percentage
- Sarah Johnson accounted for the second-most points on the team thanks to four kills and team-leading aces (4) and total blocks (5)
STAT OF THE GAME...
- Upper Iowa forced its opponent into more hitting errors than kills (-.074) for the first time this season
Match Two: Upper Iowa 3, UW-Parkside 0
PEACOCKS OF THE GAME...
- Anna Winter was responsible for just under half of UIU's total kills with 15, extending her double-figure kills games to 19 straight dating back to Sept. 29, 2018. Winter also served up three aces and denied three balls at the net
- Sarah Johnson finished with seven total blocks including her second solo block of the day
- Kasey Brennan and Gabby Holmes paced the Peacock backline with 11 and 9 digs, respectively
STAT OF THE GAME...
- Upper Iowa produced 10 aces throughout the match while UW-Parkside was limited to one
- UIU complied a season-high 11.5 blocks
- The Peacocks had just seven attack errors in the game while the Rangers had 21
UP NEXT... The Peacocks will close out the non-conference portion of their schedule against McKendree University and Quincy University on Saturday at 10:15 a.m. and 2:45 p.m., respectively
