Upper Iowa's volleyball team split a pair of three-set decisions on Saturday to close out their run at the 2021 Miner Invitational hosted by Missouri S&T. The Peacocks controlled their first match of the day with a sweep of Purdue University-Northwest allowing 20, 17 and 15 points to the Pride in those sets. UIU fell short of an undefeated weekend after a three-set loss to Missouri Western State University. The Griffons edged the Peacocks by two points in each set (25-23, 25-23, 27-25). UIU returns to Fayette with a 3-1 record after the opening weekend.
 
"We had a harder time getting ourselves started today," said Head Coach Aaron Nelson. "It felt like we were a step slower than we needed to be and it put us out of position just too often for us to sustain any momentum.  Overall, it was a good opening weekend and great start to our season."
 
Upper Iowa will head back out on the road next Friday and Saturday, Sept. 10-11 with another tournament. The Peacocks will travel to Springfield, Ill. to compete in the Capital Classic hosted by the University of Illinois-Springfield. UIU is slated to Purdue-Northwest again, Illinois-Springfield, McKendree University and Northwest Missouri State University.
 
UIU 3 – PNW 0 (25-20, 25-17, 25-15)
The Peacocks posted a match-high 10 attack errors in the first set, but countered with 14 kills, while holding the Pride to just 7 kills. Upper Iowa escaped the first frame with a 25-20 win. The UIU attack was much more efficient in the second and third sets registering 17 and 15 kills, respectively, with only 3 total attack errors in the final two sets. For the match, UIU hit .317 and held PNW to a .149 percentage.
 
Upper Iowa used a balanced scoring attack behind Maggie Streightiff (11 kills), Madelyn Rettler (10 kills) and Zoe Semelroth (9 kills) to secure the win. Nicole Pozorski paced the offense with 33 assists and added 4 kills. Sarah Stevelinck held down the back line with 15 digs and Charisma Herr added 7.
 
MWSU 3 – UIU 0 (25-23, 25-23, 27-25)
In UIU's final match of the weekend, the Peacocks and Griffons put on an offensive display in three sets. Upper Iowa racked up 53 kills and a .254 hitting percentage, while Missouri Western put 48 kills to the court at a .291 clip. In a match that was only separated by a total of six points, MWSU grabbed a 6-2 advantage in service aces and managed 10 fewer attack errors over the three sets.
 
In set one, the teams were tied at 23-all prior to a pair of kills from the Griffons' Allie Kerns. In set two, the Peacocks played two to three points behind for most of the set, but did close the gap to one, 24-23, before a kill from Ali Tauchen ended the UIU rally. The Peacocks had a set point at 25-24 after a Rettler kill, but Tauchen scored again for the Griffons to tie the set before Missouri Western scored the final two points to earn the match victory.
 
Rettler tallied a match-high 18 kills with a .310 attack percentage to lead the UIU offense. Kaitlin Niedert and Semelroth each chipped in 10 kills and Streightiff added 7. Pozorski handed out 31 assists, while the Peacock defenders stayed busy with Herr recording 21 digs, Stevelinck notched 15 and Rettler put her hands on 14.