The Upper Iowa volleyball team fell to Missouri S&T 3-1 in their first contest of the weekend in their final homestand. Despite the Peacocks pulling off a dominant 25-14 victory in the second set to tie things up at one set each, they could not keep their momentum going as they dropped the next two sets 25-18 and 25-20.
S&T improved to 16-9 (7-5 GLVC) with the win, while UIU fell to 10-16 and 5-7 in conference play after the loss this evening. However, regardless of the loss, the Peacocks have still officially qualified for their first-ever GLVC postseason tournament after Illinois Springfield dropped to Lewis University in five sets earlier this evening.
The first set of the game was a back-and-forth dogfight as the Miners just edged out the Peacocks in a 26-24 decision. UIU allowed S&T to take a 6-1 advantage to begin the set. The score near the end was tied up at 24 each, but the Miners recorded two straight kills to take the set. The visitors recorded their game-high of 18 kills in the set with a 0.279 hitting percentage.
In set two, it was the Peacocks who put on a show as they recorded 16 kills and a 0.387 hitting percentage.
Zoe Semelroth collected three straight service aces to push out an early 9-5 lead.
Martha Pace helped the team extend their advantage to 13-6 as she entered the game and brought spark as she recorded two straight kills.
The visitors got out to another early lead in set three, this time with a 5-1 margin. The Miners held a 20-17 lead and went on to outscore the Peacocks 5-1 to end the set, the last two points coming from big blocks at the net.
UIU battled with S&T in the beginning of set four, but eventually allowed them string together several short runs to gain a 19-12 lead. The Peacocks showed a glimpse of a comeback as they scored four-straight points to cut the deficit to three (19-16), but could not keep up with the pace of Missouri S&T's offense as they fell 25-20.
Semelroth led the team in kills with 11, followed by
Lydia Imbrogno with ten.
Madelyn Rettler and
Kaci Beesecker defended the back line for the Peacocks as they registered 20 and 16 kills, respectively.
Nicole Pizorski aided her hitters as she handed out 40 assists in the contest.
Alexis Moses played big at the net as she tallied four blocks.
The Peacocks host Maryville University at 3 p.m. tomorrow for their Senior Day.
