FAYETTE, Iowa - The Peacock volleyball team (2-14, 2-4 GLVC) came back from down 2-0 early to win in five sets against McKendree (Ill.) (4-13, 3-3 GLVC) on Saturday afternoon. Junior Kailey Porter totaled a career-high 19 kills while hitting .361 to help the Peacocks win 13-25, 23-25, 25-22, 26-24, 15-12.
Martha Pace added 16 kills and 15 digs. She tied her second-highest mark in both of those categories this season. Redshirt junior Alexis Moses added a career-high 15 kills while hitting .222 from the field. Porter led the team in service aces with three.
Setter Grace Fruzen totaled a career-high 53 assists with a .294 set-assist rating. She added 18 digs and two blocks. Morgan Block led the team in digs with 32, her second-most in a game this season.
McKenna Diermeier added 18 digs. Lydia Imbrogno had 17 digs with three kills. Carley Jonker had four kills and two digs.
McKendree outhit Upper Iowa .263 to -0.024 in the first set for the 12-point victory. Leading 11-9, the Bearcats used a 9-0 run to extend the lead to 20-9. Two late kills by Avery Wuebbels helped McKendree win the set, 25-13.
The Peacocks started to turn it around in the second set on the attack, outhitting McKendree .250 to .243. The second set was back-and-forth with McKendree getting a late lead. Five service errors by UIU made up the hitting difference with the Bearcats winning, 25-22.
Tied 7-7 in the third set, the Peacocks started to find a groove. UIU outscored the Bearcats 12-4 over the next 16 points for the 19-11 advantage. Porter had three straight kills, and Pace had two straight kills during the run. Moses halted a late McKendree comeback with a kill to win it, 25-22. Pace totaled six kills, and Porter had five kills while hitting .559 in the set.
Moses came alive in the fourth set with a team-leading five kills. Leading 13-12, the Peacocks used a 4-0 run to take a five-point lead. UIU maintained that lead until 24-19, when the Bearcats went on a 5-0 run to tie, 24-24. Two straight attack errors by McKendree's Destiny Gray halted that momentum to give the Peacocks the 26-24 win.
After the Bearcats scored on the first point of the fifth set, Upper Iowa went on a 7-1 run to take an early lead. The run featured a kill from Imbrogno, a kill from Pace, a kill by Porter, two kills by Moses and an ace by Porter. McKendree came back to cut the lead to 8-7, but back-to-back service errors halted the Bearcats' momentum.
Tied at 11-11, a McKendree error and a block by Fruzen and Porter gave the Peacocks a 13-11 lead. After a kill for McKendree by Madelyn Clark, Gray had a service error. Porter finished the game with a service ace to win, 15-12.
Gray led the Bearcats with a game-high 25 kills. She had a .164 hitting percentage and 32 digs. Emily-Kate Longeran added 16 kills. Peyton Uptgraft had 52 assists to lead the team. Ashlyn Berczynski had a game-high 44 digs defensively at libero.
The Bearcats held a 65-57 advantage in kills and had a better hitting percentage at .181-.124. McKendree held a 9-6 advantage in blocks, 61-55 in assists and 123-107 in digs. The Peacocks had an 8-5 advantage on service aces.
This win marked the first five-set win for the Peacocks this season. Upper Iowa last overcame a two-set deficit on Oct. 26, 2024, against William Jewell (Mo.). In 2024, the Peacocks won five matches that went to five sets. UIU has won 10 of its last 11 five-set matches.
The Peacocks will compete next at the 17th annual Midwest Region Volleyball Crossover on Friday, Oct. 17, and Saturday, Oct. 18. The tournament will be held at Hammond Sportsplex & Community Center in Hammond, Indiana. The full seeds for the tournament will be released here.
