THIS WEEK IN PEACOCK VOLLEYBALL… Upper Iowa's volleyball team is set to open their 2022 campaign in Marquette, Mich. at the Northern Michigan Wildcat Open. The Peacocks are slated to take the floor four times between Thursday, Aug. 25 and Saturday, Aug. 27. UIU will line up against Lake Superior State University on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. before taking on the University of Minnesota Crookston and Northern Michigan University on Friday at 3 and 7 p.m., respectively. The team will close out their play at the tournament with an 11 a.m. match against Cedarville University on Saturday. All times listed are in the Eastern Standard Time Zone. The last time the Peacocks competed at the Wildcat Open, the squad went 3-1 to open the 2015 season.

LIVE OPTIONS… All four matches will have a pair of live options available for fans who can't make it to the matches in Marquette, Mich. Both live stats (free) and a pay-per-view webcast of each match will be available using the links above or by going to UIUPeacocks.com/Live.
 
PRESEASON POLLS… The Peacocks were picked 10th (109 points) in the NSIC Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll despite posting their best NSIC mark a season ago and finishing the regular season in fifth place. Concordia University, St. Paul was picked by the league coaches in the NSIC Preseason Volleyball Poll. The Golden Bears are coming off a 2021 season where they finished 24-9 and advanced to the NCAA Central Region Tournament Championship game. CSP received nine first place votes to tally 217 points. The defending NSIC regular season and tournament champions of St. Cloud State were picked second with 213 points and had the other six first place votes.  Wayne State was third with 189 points while Augustana was fourth with 179 points. 
 
FINAL LOOK IN THE REARVIEW… The Peacock volleyball team is coming off their best season in the high-powered Northern Sun with a 13-7 mark in 2021. Upper Iowa posted a 20-10 overall record last season and were receiving votes in the final regular season AVCA Top 25. Highlighting the record-breaking season was three victories at home in Dorman Memorial Gymnasium over then-No. 23 University of Minnesota Duluth, then-No. 10 Southwest Minnesota State and then-No. 10 Concordia-St. Paul in straight sets.
 
WHO'S STEERING THE SHIP… Head Coach Aaron Nelson and Associate Coach Jenna Sullivan are back to lead the team for their tenth and fifth seasons, respectively. Over the last four seasons, Upper Iowa has become a nationally-recognized program in the top volleyball conference in all of NCAA Division II. The Peacocks have earned an 80-39 record overall and a 48-32 mark in the Northern Sun over their last four seasons.
 
"STREIGHT" TO THE POINT… UIU returns one of their two All-NSIC performers from a year ago in the form of right-side hitter Maggie Streightiff. Streightiff returns for a fifth season after being selected to the All-NSIC Second Team in 2021. Last season, the Hayfield, Minn. native scored 287.5 points in 20 NSIC matches thanks to 257 kills, 10 aces, a pair of solo blocks and 37 assisted blocks. Streightiff 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. In three seasons in Peacock blue, she has knocked down 518 kills with a hitting percentage of .209. Her career-high of 22 kills came in UIU's four-set victory over Southwest Minnesota State in 2021.
 
BACK IN BLACK… The Peacocks are an experienced group this season with several players getting a ton of time on the court in 2021. In addition to Streightiff, other hitters that return this season are Madelyn Rettler, Kylee Oldenburger, Emily Kono, Kaitlyn Mohwinkle and Martha Pace. The most experienced position for the Peacocks is in the middle where Zoe Semelroth, Kylie Willis, Sarah Johnson and Carlee Dove are all battling for time at the net. The Peacock offense will run through the hands of setter Nicole Pozorski again this season, while Sarah Stevelinck and Kaci Beesecker will pace the team on the back line.
 
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE NET… The Lakers of Lake Superior State were selected to finish ninth in the GLIAC preseason poll and they will be looking for improvement under first year head coach, Zac Rambo. The Lakers return ten players from last year's squad, including the team-leader in digs (365), Emily Hagelthorn, who ranked fourth in the GLIAC in digs per set (4.2). In addition to the returnees, the team has also added six new faces, including a pair of junior college transfers in Anastasjia Dragovic and Mariana Velasque.
 
The Golden Eagles of Minnesota Crookston was picked to finish 15^th in the NSIC preseason poll under Nick Meseck, who takes over as interim head coach this season. Juniors Mara Weisensel, Charlee Krieg and Madison Klimek are all back and each should play a big role this season. Natalie Koke, a redshirt senior from Caledonia, Wis., will be the Golden Eagles starting setter for the second season in a row. Sophomore Layne Whaley will play a huge role in the back row after leading the Golden Eagles in digs per set with 2.73 and finished with 205 digs, which was the most by a Golden Eagle freshman since 2018. Classmate Bailey Schaefer finished with 10 or more kills in six different matches in 2021 and had a career-high 33 total attacks against UMary.
 
The Wildcats of Northern Michigan were selected sixth in the GLIAC preseason poll. Last season, the NMU Volleyball Team had a 12-15 overall record. They finished seventh in the GLIAC with a 7-8 record. The team scored 1645 points on the campaign and claimed 1132 kills and 1225 digs. The 'Cats also outperformed their opponents in services aces, 199 to 178. The team will be returning their entire roster from last season. Lizzie Stark, Alli Yacko, and Jacqueline Smith will be essential players to watch this season. Stark contributed 284 kills, 234 digs, and 32 aces to the team last season. Alli Yacko will be coming off of recovery time due to an injury. In the 2019 season, she led the team with 381 digs. Jacqueline Smith will continue to dominate for the 'Cats. In the 2021 season, she claimed 371 kills, averaging 3.79 per set. Smith also led the team in points (435), averaging 4.44 points per set.
 
The Yellow Jackets of Cedarville has been voted to place fourth in the South Division of the G-MAC this season after finishing 11-12 overall and 8-8 G-MAC. As a team, Cedarville averaged 12.3 kills and 15.3 digs per set last season with a hitting percentage of .183.
 
ON THE HORIZON… The Peacocks will spend the front half of Labor Day Weekend in Kenosha, Wis. competing in the Hampton Inn Invitational hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. Upper Iowa will line up against Michigan Technological University and Parkside on Friday, Sept. 2 and McKendree University and the University of Illinois-Springfield on Saturday, Sept. 3.