The Peacocks went 1-1 today at the Midwest Region Volleyball Crossover Tournament, held in Hammond, Ind. at the Hammond Sportsplex. They defeated Ohio Dominican 3-2 in their first match of the day and later fell to Wayne State (MI) in a 3-0 decision. Upper Iowa's record is now 8-10 (3-2 GLVC) after competition today. They face Trevecca Nazarene at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow to conclude the tournament.
In their five-set match against the Panthers, UIU fell in the first set 25-20, but came back and clinched the second set 25-22. Ohio Dominican grabbed the third set 25-18, but did not muster up enough to down the Peacocks, as Upper Iowa claimed the fourth set 25-22 and fifth set 15-11.
Kailey Porter,
Zoe Semelroth and
Emily Kono combined for 41 of the team's 60 kills. UIU had a dominant fifth set as they put together a .526 hitting percentage with 12 kills, matching the number they had in the set prior. Porter put away 14 of her attempts to register a .385 hitting percentage, while
Alexis Moses recorded a .500 hitting percentage with eight kills.
Nicole Pozorski led the team in service aces (three), digs (14) and assists (49).
In game two against Wayne State, the Peacocks dropped all three sets 25-20, 25-18 and 25-20. In set one, WSU held a 14-4 lead that UIU was not able to catch up to. Upper Iowa was down 19-17 in set two, but allowed their opponents to go on a 6-1 slide to close the game. In the last set of the evening, UIU found themselves trailing by two points once again (22-20), but the Warriors closed the set with three straight points to win the match.
Maria Winter led the Peacocks with six kills, while Pozorski recorded five. Pozorski paced the team in blocks with four and assists with 20.
Kaci Beesecker toed the back line with 11 digs.
After the Midwest Crossover concludes, the Peacocks resume conference play as they travel to Missouri next weekend for a pair of matches. They start the weekend off at William Jewell on Friday, Oct. 20 at 6 p.m. and then travel to Rockhurst the following day for a 3 p.m. match up.
