Upper Iowa University Athletics

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The Peacock volleyball team (3-6, 0-1 GLVC) opened GLVC play with a five-set (25-12, 21-25, 18-25, 25-14, 15-8) loss to Maryville (Mo.) (6-5, 1-0 GLVC) on Friday night. Maryville used a 60-48 kill advantage and a .253-.105 attacking percentage margin to defeat Upper Iowa.

Morgan Block led the Peacocks defensively with 26 digs, marking her sixth match with 20 digs or more this season. The libero added six assists and totaled 16 receptions with one receiving error on serves. Avery Agnew had the second-most digs for the Peacocks with 14.

Junior setter Grace Fruzen tallied 35 assists, her second-most this season. She added a team-high three service aces with three kills, 12 digs and two blocks. Fruzen will enter Saturday's match against Missouri S&T (7-5, 0-1 GLVC) 17 assists away from 1,000 in her career. 

Freshman Natalie Bystol led the Peacock attack with 11 kills while adding five digs and a block. Erica Conger returned to her home area with 10 kills and two blocks. Kailey Porter posted nine kills in the middle, and Marissa Becker finished with seven kills and nine digs. 

Maryville used a 16-6 kills advantage in the first set to take it, 25-12. The Saints hit .412 in the opening frame. The Peacocks woke up over the next two sets, holding Maryville to a combined .101 attack percentage in them. 

Trailing 13-12 in the second set, Alexis Moses tied it with a kill. A kill by Bystol, two service aces by Fruzen and two kills by Conger gave the Peacocks an 18-13 advantage. UIU went on to win the set 25-21, aided by two late Porter kills and a kill by Bystol.

It was a similar story in the third. After Maryville led 15-13, a block by Conger and Moses, along with an ace by Addy Vaughn, sparked another run. UIU scored nine straight points, capped off with kills by Fruzen and Becker, for the longest Peacock scoring run of the night. The Peacocks took the third set, 25-18.

Maryville turned their attack around after that, hitting .377 over the final two frames. The Saints scored six straight to take an early 6-1 lead in the fourth, and scored eight of the last nine points to win the set, 25-14. Maryville did not have a single attack error in the fifth, scoring nine of the 15 points on kills to win, 15-8. 

MU's Natalie Frazier finished the contest with a game-high 18 kills along with eight digs. Emma Keele totaled 14 kills with 14 digs and a .306 attack percentage. Cami Kohmetscher led the Saints with 29 assists, and Mallory Sell totaled a team-high 17 digs.

The Peacocks had 79 digs to Maryville's 70. Maryville led the match in blocks, 11-7, in aces, 7-5, and in assists, 54-43. The Saints had 13 service errors while the Peacocks had six. 

Upper Iowa stays in Missouri and takes on the Miners of Missouri S&T on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Gibson Arena in Rolla. The Miners fell in three sets to Truman State (Mo.) (5-6, 1-0 GLVC) on Friday.