THIS WEEK IN PEACOCK VOLLEYBALL… Upper Iowa (6-3, 0-2 NSIC) will return to the friendly confines of Dorman Memorial Gymnasium and Prochaska Court this Friday and Saturday, Sept. 16-17. After three weekends away from home, the Peacocks will host a pair of nationally-ranked NSIC opponents in Fayette when No. 3 Wayne State College (12-0, 2-0 NSIC) and No. 23 Augustana University (9-1, 1-1 NSIC) come to town.
LIVE OPTIONS... Fans that can't be in Fayette for volleyball's home openers have several options to follow along in real time. Live stats and a webcast are available through links at UIUPeacocks.com/Live. In addition, the matches can 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. The matches will also be broadcast on KCRG 9.2 (delayed till 10 p.m.) on Friday and Eastern Iowa's CW 9.3 on Saturday.
GET YOUR TICKETS… Upper Iowa has partnered with HomeTown Ticketing for all ten of this season's volleyball matches in Dorman Memorial Gymnasium. Tickets can be purchased ahead of time at UIUPeacocks.com/Tickets or by paying cash in person prior to the match. Upper Iowa students and Peacock faculty and staff have been notified on how to access their free passes to the games and may enter with their scannable pass either printed or on their mobile device. Fans are encouraged to stay ahead of the curve this season with the HomeTown Ticketing Fan App available on all mobile device platforms.
DIGITAL MATCHDAY PROGRAM… Digital programs are available to fans in the stadium or at home for Saturday's game. Fans can access the interactive gameday program at any time at
UIUPeacocks.com/Programs. QR Codes will also be located around the stadium to scan with your cell phone's camera that will link you directly to that game's specific digital gameday program.
GLANCING BACK… The Peacocks are coming off a tough weekend that saw their offense struggle at the University of Sioux Falls and No. 9 Southwest Minnesota State. Upper Iowa's offense converted at a .017 hitting percentage against the Cougars and a .124 clip against the Mustangs with 55 kills and 40 attack errors in the six sets played. For the season, UIU's hitting percentage is just below .200 as the team averages 11.6 kills/set through the early going.
LEADING THE WAY… The trio of
Zoe Semelroth,
Madelyn Rettler and
Maggie Streightiff pace the attack with kills/set averages over 2.0, while
Nicole Pozorski runs the offense with 8.76 assists/set. Defensively,
Kaci Beesecker and Rettler average 4.06 and 3.47 digs/set, respectively, while Pozorski,
Kylee Oldenburger and
Lydia Imbrogno all average more than two digs/set. At the net, Semelroth (26) and
Sarah Johnson (19) are both averaging nearly one block/set.
RECENT HISTORY… Since 2017, the Peacocks are 1-4 against the Wildcats with the win coming in five sets at Wayne State in 2017. WSC edged UIU in five-set thrillers in 2018 and 2019. In the same time span, Upper Iowa has a 3-2 record against Augustana with two wins at home (2018, 2019) and once in Sioux Falls (2018). The Vikings wins have come in Sioux Falls thanks to a five-set match in 2017 and a four-set decision in last year's match.
SCOUTING THE NO. 3 WILDCATS… Wayne State is 12-0 on the season and 2-0 in the NSIC entering this weekend. Wayne State closed their non-conference slate Tuesday evening with a 25-14, 25-8, 25-13 win over Peru State. WSC leads the NSIC in hitting percentage (.320) and ranks third in opponent hitting percentage (.125) and blocks per set (2.33). Wayne State is fourth in digs per set (16.33), fifth in kills (13.95) and assists per set (12.92) and eighth in service aces per set (1.49). Sophomore middle hitter Taya Beller leads Wayne State in kills per set (4.05) and ranks first in the NSIC and fourth in NCAA Division II with a .495 hitting percentage. Junior outside hitter Kelsie Cada follows with 3.67 kills and 3.51 digs per set, recording five double-doubles this season. Sophomore middle hitter Maggie Brahmer accounts for 3.15 kills and 1.21 blocks per set, ranking second in the NSIC and sixth nationally with a .487 hitting percentage.
SCOUTING THE No. 23 VIKINGS… Augustana comes into the matches this weekend with a 9-1 overall mark and a 1-1 NSIC record after a win over Minnesota State University, Mankato and a four-set loss to No. 3 Concordia University, St. Paul last Friday and Saturday. Prior to Saturday's loss to Concordia-St. Paul, the Vikings had only dropped eight sets in their previous nine match wins including four three-set wins. Maddy Guetter (3.1), Kate Reimann (3.0) and Kia Kriener (2.8) combine for nearly 8.9 kills/set to lead the Viking attack. Augie's offense goes through setter Avery Thorson, who hands out 10.1 assists/set, while Erika Bute holds the backline defense together with 5.18 digs/set. Piper Asche looms large at the net with 44 blocks on the season and a 1.1 blocks/set average.
ON THE HORIZON… Upper Iowa will head to North Dakota next weekend for a pair of NSIC matches. The Peacocks will take on the University of Mary on Friday, Sept. 23 and then line up with Minot State University on Saturday, Sept. 24.
