The No. 23 Peacock volleyball team notched their second straight NSIC victory with a 3-0 sweep of the Bemidji State University Beavers on Saturday afternoon in Dorman Gymnasium. Upper Iowa prevailed by set scores of 25-12, 25-18, and 25-23 to improve to 10-2 (2-2 NSIC) this season. Bemidji State falls to 3-9 (0-4 NSIC).
Upper Iowa hit a season-high .362 led by Sarah Johnson's .571 clip (8 kills, 0 errors), Anna Winter's .542 mark (13 kills, 0 errors), and Maggie Streightiff's career-high .421 hitting percentage (11 kills, 3 errors). Defensively, the Peacocks contained the Beavers to a .070 hitting efficiency while holding a 7-0 block advantage.
The first two sets were all Upper Iowa as the Peacocks came out on top 25-12 and 25-18 thanks to .440 hitting compared to their opponents .049 clip. In the third set, the teams battled to a 10-10 draw before Bemidji State generated a 10-1 run to take a 20-11 lead. Determined to end the match in three sets, the Peacocks rallied behind strong serving from Sarah Johnson and Charisma Herr to even things at 23-all. A pair of kills by Kaitlin Niedert and Maggie Streightiff would put the final touches on the match to give UIU a 25-23 victory.
TURNING POINT... Tied at 10-10 in the third set, the Beavers pieced together a 10-1 run fueled by four kills from Julie Touchett and two from Haley Stolt to put the home team in a deep hole. Upper Iowa then got some momentum back with a kill from
Sarah Johnson that ignited a small run for the Peacocks, but the Beavers would score two more points to take a 22-16 lead. Upper Iowa continued to chip away point-by-point with three big Streightiff kills and two timely blocks from Niedert and
Claire Milnes to get the Peacocks back into the game and eventually secure the sweep with a tight 25-23 win in set three.
PEACOCKS OF THE GAME...
- Sarah Johnson had another big game for the Peacocks. The freshman from Elk River, Minn. knocked down eight kills on 14 attempts (.571), turned away four balls at the net, collected five digs in the back row, and served up an ace.
- Anna Winter, who was recognized prior to the match for surpassing 1,000 career kills earlier this season, secured her 25th straight double-figure kills game dating back to Sept. 29, 2018. The senior led all attackers with 13 kills on 24 attempts (.542), while contributing four digs and a block.
- Maggie Streightiff also had a block and posted double-digit kills with 11 on 19 attempts for a career-high .421 hitting efficiency.
- Haley Weepie recorded 19 digs for the second straight game
STATS OF THE GAME...
- Upper Iowa hit .362 as a team compared to Bemidji State's .070 clip
- The Peacocks held the advantage in kills (44-27), digs (48-35), assists (40-26), and blocks (7-0). The Beavers had a slight edge on aces with five compared to UIU's four.
QUOTABLE...
UP NEXT... Upper Iowa hits the road again to continue conference play against No. 9 Southwest Minnesota State University and No. 19 University of Sioux Falls on Oct. 4-5. SMSU was triumphant against No. 8 Northern State University (3-2) and Minnesota State University Moorhead (3-0) this weekend, while USF won 3-0 against MSU Moorhead but fell 3-1 to Northern State.
