Upper Iowa volleyball opened conference play on Saturday against Truman State and defended their house, defeating the guests in five sets. The Peacocks improved to 6-6 (1-0 GLVC), while the Bulldogs fell to 0-13 and 0-1 in the league.
 
UIU took set one in a 25-18 decision but dropped the following segments 25-20 and 25-23 to put themselves at a 2-1 disadvantage. They played from behind and commanded set four 25-13 and forced set five, where they came out on top 15-10. 
 
"We give fans their money's worth when they come to Dorman," said Head Coach Jim Dietz. "If you weren't here, you missed a scrappy match. We had another good day of Zoe hitting, but the key to the match was serving in the fourth set, and with credit to Morgan, Jayden, and Nicole." 
 
Zoe Semelroth recorded 19 kills and put up six blocks, followed by Alexis Moses with five. Nicole Pozorski rattled off four aces and handed out 44 assists, while McKenna Diermeier held down the back line and collected 12 digs, trailed by Maria Winter with 11. 
 
Three hitters recorded a hitting percentage above .300: Semelroth (.378), Maria Winter (.313) with seven kills and Marissa Becker (.375) with eight kills. 
 
The Peacocks mustered their best hitting percentage of the evening in set one as they tallied a .294 at the net behind 13 kills. 
 
The Bulldogs had two significant runs in the second segment, with one burst of six straight points early on and another seven unanswered points further into the set to take a 19-13 lead. 
 
Truman State carried its momentum into the third set as it edged out Upper Iowa by two points and hit a game-high of .306 on the net, fueled by 14 kills. 
 
Upper Iowa had five service aces in the fourth set to aid their double-digit win, forcing set five. 
 
In the final period, the home team rallied off four straight points to go from being tied 8-8 to holding a 12-8 advantage. Two out of the three last points belonging to the Peacocks came from a slam by Semelroth. 
 
The Peacocks are back in Fayette next weekend as they host Quincy on Friday at 1 p.m. and Illinois Springfield on Saturday at 1 p.m.
 
"Next week, we face a ranked team who came into this weekend at 9-1, so we have to put the work in this week to be prepared for Friday night," noted Dietz.