THIS WEEKEND IN UIU VOLLEYBALL… Upper Iowa will close out their regular season on the road this weekend, Nov. 12-13. This Friday, Upper Iowa will face Northern State University, one of the teams tied with UIU in fifth place, in Aberdeen, S.D. On Saturday, UIU's regular season will close at Minnesota State University, Moorhead. The match with the Wolves is slated for 6 p.m., while the tilt with the Dragons is set for 3:30 p.m.
 
LIVE OPTIONS… Both NSIC matches will have multiple options for following live if fans can't get to Aberdeen, S.D. or Moorhead, Minn. to catch the action in person. Both matches will have live stats and a NSIC Network webcast available through links at UIUPeacocks.com/Live. The matches can also be streamed through most mobile devices at NSICNetwork.com/UIUPeacocks or through the NSIC Network app on Roku and Amazon Fire devices, as well as Apple and Android televisions.
 
WHAT LIES AHEAD… The Peacocks are currently 19-8 overall (12-6 NSIC) and looking to claim a spot in the elite NSIC Tournament for the fourth season in a row. The Peacocks are tied with two other teams in fifth-place, one match behind fourth-place Wayne State College and one spot ahead of eighth-place Southwest Minnesota State. The team's current 12 NSIC victories are tied for the program record for conference wins in a season.
 
NIEDERT AND STREIGHTIFF TABBED ALL-NSIC… The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference released their annual Volleyball All-Conference Awards on Thursday morning, and a pair of Peacock seniors were named among the conference's best performers. Kaitlin Niedert earned a place on the All-NSIC First Team, while Maggie Streightiff secured a place on the All-NSIC Second Team. During UIU's 18 Northern Sun matches, Niedert has started all matches scoring 213.5 points, which ranks 15th in the conference, thanks to 187 kills, 13 aces, 6 solo blocks and 15 assisted blocks. Niedert is averaging 3.5 points per set due in large part to her 3.07 kills/set average, which ranks 13th in the NSIC. Last weekend, Niedert moved into 7th place all-time at UIU in career kills with 821. Streightiff, who was named the AVCA/Sports Imports NCAA Division II Player of the Week after knocking down 33 kills in UIU's home victories over the University of Sioux Falls and No. 10 Southwest Minnesota State University, has been a consistent force for the Peacocks on the right side. The Hayfield, Minn. product has played in all 18 NSIC matches thus far and has scored 157 points thanks to 144 kills, 7 aces, and 12 assisted blocks. Streightiff has averaged 2.44 kills/set while hitting .227 in 326 swings.
 
BACK IN THE RANKINGS… The Peacocks are currently receiving 12 votes in the AVCA Preseason Top 25 joining six other NSIC teams that are either in the top-25 or receiving votes. The NSIC teams in the AVCA Top 25 or receiving votes include No. 8 Winona State University, No. 11 St. Cloud State University, No. 14 Concordia University, St. Paul, No. 15 Wayne State College, No. 17 Southwest Minnesota State University, Upper Iowa and the University of Minnesota Duluth (receiving votes). Upper Iowa has won four straight including three-straight sweeps at home.
 
TAKING A LOOK IN THE REARVIEW… Last week, the Peacocks closed out their home slate in style with three sweeps last week including a win over No. 10 Concordia-St. Paul. UIU averaged 12.9 kills/set and hit .264, while holding their opponents to 8.8 kills/set and .080 hitting. The Peacocks were deadly at the service line recording 34 aces, while committing only three serve receive errors for the week. Kaitlin Niedert and Zoe Semelroth paced the attack with 26 and 20 kills respectively, while Kylie Willis added 19 and Maggie Streightiff and Emily Kono each chipped in 14. Nicole Pozorski had 88 assists in the nine sets and added 24 digs. Defensively, Charisma Herr notched 31 digs, while Madelyn Rettler recorded 26 digs.
 
THE FIRST MEETINGS IN FAYETTE… Back in mid-September, the Peacocks hosted the Dragons of MSU Moorhead and the Wolves of Northern State. UIU swept MSUM, but fell in four sets to NSU. On Friday night, the Peacocks swept the Dragons by scores of 25-20, 25-15 and 25-18 thanks to a balanced attack that saw five UIU hitters record at least eight kills. The home team held their guests to a .072 hitting percentage and only allowed the Dragons 23 kills while forcing 16 attack errors. UIU posted 52 digs in the three-set affair led by their libero Charisma Herr, who notched 19 digs for a 6.3 per set average. Offensively, the Peacocks hit .260 including a high-set of .467 in the third and final frame. Carlee Dove led the UIU hitters with 10 kills, but Kaitlin Niedert (9), Maggie Streightiff (8), Rettler (8) and Zoe Semelroth (8) all followed closely behind. On Saturday, the Wolves outlasted their hosts in a four-set decision which included a pair of two-point final margins that went well above 25 points. NSU secured the win by scores of 30-28, 20-25, 25-19 and 28-26. The Wolves were able to hit at a higher percentage than the Peacocks, .285 to .209, but UIU logged a 64-62 advantage in total kills. Upper Iowa's effort at the service line made up the difference in attack percentage as the home notched a 10-3 advantage in aces. Semelroth led a balanced scoring attack with 15 kills, while Madelyn Rettler added 14 and 11 digs. Dove put down 12 kills, and Maggie Streightiff and Kaitlin Niedert each notched 10 kills in the match. Nicole Pozorski handed out 50 assists to set up the attack, while Charisma Herr (16) and Sarah Stevelinck (15) combined for 31 digs. Semelroth played big at the net as well with 6 blocks.