FAYETTE, Iowa - Caylee Rowley had a double-double with 40 assists and 10 digs as Peacock volleyball (6-9, 2-4 GLVC) defeated Clarke (7-13) to start homecoming week on Tuesday night. UIU won in four sets 25-22, 17-25, 25-14, 25-22.
Rowley's 40 assists were the most for the Peacocks in a four-set match this season. The junior Missouri Western transfer also had three blocks, a service ace and a kill. She had 14 assists in the fourth and final set.
Alexis Moses totaled eight kills and a career-high eight blocks in the middle. The Peacocks recorded 12 blocks as a team, tying for the most in a match this season. She finished the match with a .400 hitting percentage.
Natalie Bystol led the team in kills with 13, and she was a force to be reckoned with in the fourth set with eight kills. She added six digs to her total. Erica Conger added 12 kills on a team-high .458 attack percentage. That marks the third-highest attack percentage for a Peacock this season (minimum 12 kills).
Morgan Block and Gracen Klima each posted four kills, while Klima had five digs. Fisher, Conger, Rowley and Klima each had three blocks.
Avery Agnew led the team in digs with 14 while posting a .952 serve-receive percentage. Block added nine digs, and Amaralyse Rodriguez had eight digs. Freshman Addy Vaughn knocked in a team-high four service aces to go along with six digs.
UIU jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the first set with kills by Conger, Moses, Ava Ketelsen and a service ace by Agnew. Clarke crawled back with a 7-0 run to tie the game at 13-13 and later tied it up once again at 21-21. A block by Moses and Conger, a kill by Conger, a Pride service error and a kill by Klima won the set for UIU, 25-22.
Clarke started hot in the second set, scoring the first six points unanswered. A 5-0 run extended the Pride lead to 15-4, and CU eventually took the set, 25-17. The Pride held the Peacocks to a -.054 attack percentage in the second set, outkilling the Peacocks 12-7.
After Clarke led 3-1 in the third set, UIU woke up with an 11-1 run to take a 12-4 lead, including back-to-back service aces by Rodriguez. The Peacocks scored five straight points to end the set with three straight kills by Bystol and a service ace by Fisher to cap it off.
Bystol stayed hot in the fourth set. After UIU trailed 14-11, a Pride attack error opened the floor for the Shawano, Wisconsin native to knock down three straight kills again. This helped spark a 9-1 run to take a 20-15 lead. UIU grinded out the last five points, with a kill by Conger to end the match, 25-22.
The Peacocks hit .204 compared to .159 for the Pride. Upper Iowa led in aces 11-8, blocks 12-6, assists 47-42, digs 64-56 and kills 51-47.
Clarke was led by Keely Coyler with a match-high 19 kills. Jaxcyn Berntgen added 21 assists, and Kira Finley led the team in digs with 16.
Upper Iowa resumes conference play this weekend at Dorman Memorial Gymnasium with Rockhurst (Mo.) (11-5, 5-0 GLVC) on Friday at 6 p.m. and William Jewell (Mo.) (2-14, 1-4 GLVC) on Saturday at 5 p.m. Rockhurst lost in five sets to Pittsburg State (Kan.) (12-6) on Tuesday night, snapping a 10-match winning streak.
