The Peacock volleyball team closed out their time at the Keweenaw Volleyball Classic in exciting fashion by defeating the host school Michigan Technological University - who was receiving votes in the preseason AVCA poll - in a tightly-contested match on Saturday evening. Upper Iowa took down the University of Wisconsin-Parkside Rangers 3-0 earlier in the afternoon.
The pair of wins improves Upper Iowa's season record to 4-0 and non-conference record over the last three years to 20-1.
Match One: Upper Iowa 3, UW-Parkside 0
TURNING POINT... Midway through both the second and third set, the Peacocks were able to pull away for good from their opponents with a pair 6-0 runs fueled by strong serving from
Haley Weepie. The first instance came in the second set when Upper Iowa went from trailing 5-3 to a four-point lead at 9-5, while the second run broke a 7-7 tie in the third to give UIU a lead it wouldn't surrender.
PEACOCKS OF THE GAME...
- Kaitlin Niedert knocked down 11 kills on 25 attempts (.320), her strongest performance of the season thus far
- Sarah Johnson continued to be a weapon behind the service line with a game-high four aces
STAT OF THE GAME...
- Upper Iowa tallied up 10 service aces as a team, the most in a single match since the Peacocks recorded 10 against the University of Sioux Falls on Oct. 3, 2015
Match Two: Upper Iowa 3, Michigan Tech 2
TURNING POINTS...
- The Peacock serving game came in clutch once again during the second set when back-to-back aces by Weepie put UIU ahead 23-21. Kasey Brennan later finished out the set with an ace of her own to tie the match up at 1-1
- After the Huskies took the third set to go ahead 2-1, the Peacocks went to work in the fourth set. The teams exchanged five points back-and-forth before Upper Iowa cranked it up a notch to force the Huskies into six attacking errors over the next 10 plays en route to an advantage the Peacocks were able to hold onto to force the deciding set
- In the fifth, UIU got out to a quick 5-3 lead thanks to two kills from Anna Winter and Maggie Streightiff. Streightiff then teamed up with Sarah Johnson to turn away a big hit by Anna Jonynas, which forced a timeout from the MTU bench. The Huskies were able to claw their way back to within 14-13, but Streightiff put the final touches on the game with kill
PEACOCKS OF THE GAME...
- Libero Haley Weepie wasn't letting anything touch the floor during the match. The senior played a huge role in Upper Iowa staying alive in tight rallies and finished the night with a game-high 36 digs, a mark that ties her career-high. Weepie also added two aces and five assists
- Setter Carlee Ketchum did a little bit of everything during the match as the senior filled her stat line with 55 assists, seven digs, three blocks, three aces, and two kills on five attempts (.400)
- Anna Winter recorded her 17th straight game with double figure kills dating back to Sept. 29 last season with a game-high 24 kills
- Maggie Streightiff finished second on the team with a career-high 15 kills, including four in the final set
- Sarah Johnson got her hands on eight blocks and nine kills
STAT OF THE GAME...
- In the must-have fourth set, the Peacocks forced the Huskies into 12 attacking errors while limiting their own to just one
QUOTABLE... "This weekend was a great start to a season where we have high expectations. We have an incredible mix of personalities on this team. Our athletes are driven and they love to compete. Tonight's match was a battle between two good teams playing some great volleyball in an electric atmosphere. We started a little slowly but once we shook the nerves off after a tough first set, we settled in and went to work. We had some incredible individual performances but it was an entire team effort to come out on top tonight and finish 4-0 for the weekend."
-Head Coach Aaron Nelson
UP NEXT... Upper Iowa will head to the UW-Parkside Invitational for the Peacocks' fine tune-up before opening up Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action on Sept. 20. UIU will face Purdue University-Northwest, UW-Parkside, McKendree University and Quincy University in Kenosha, Wis. on Sept. 13-14.
