FAYETTE, Iowa - Marissa Becker tied her career high with 17 kills in Friday night's 3-1 (25-11, 23-25, 25-18, 25-18) loss to Lewis (Ill.) (9-5, 3-0 GLVC). Lewis hit .268 while Upper Iowa (4-7, 1-2 GLVC) hit .081 in the loss.
The Flyers only had 13 attack errors compared to 34 from the Peacocks. UIU's top attackers, Becker and Bystol (15 kills), outkilled Lewis' top attackers, Caroline Impey with 13 kills and Ann-Kelly Velikov with 11 kills.
Lewis used a game-high .464 attack percentage to win the first set, 25-11. The Flyers only had one attack error, while the Peacocks had nine. Becker had five of UIU's seven kills in the first frame.
UIU fought back in the second set, with Becker totaling six kills to help aid a .239-.091 attack percentage advantage. Trailing 18-13, two kills from Becker along with a block by her and Kailey Porter were a part of a 4-0 run to get back into the set.
Trailing 22-20 later in the set, a Flyer attack error, a kill by Bystol and a block by Erica Conger and Alexis Moses gave the Peacocks a one-point lead. After a block by the Flyers tied the set, Bystol and Conger got kills to give UIU the 25-23 set win. Lewis had eight of its 13 attack errors in the second set.
The third set was back and forth early until the Flyers pulled away for a 19-15 lead. After the Peacocks scored two points with a kill by Bystol and a block by her and Alexis Moses. Lewis scored six of the final seven points to win the set, 25-18.
The Flyers only had one attack error in the final frame. Bystol led the Peacock offense in the fourth set with five kills. After UIU jumped out to an 11-10 lead, Lewis scored eight straight points, three off kills by Lauren Buxton. Trailing 24-15, UIU scored three straight points, but a kill by Velikov finished the match, 25-18.
Becker added five digs and two assists to her stat line. Bystol tallied six assists and two blocks. Conger tallied eight kills, two blocks and a dig.
Morgan Block led the Peacocks with 28 digs while adding seven assists. She was one dig short of tying her season-high, and this is her eighth match with 20 or more digs this season.
Grace Fruzen tallied 34 assists with 19 digs. That marks a season-high in digs for the junior setter. This marks four straight games with 30 or more assists for her. Addy Vaughn was the only Peacock to record a service ace, leading the team with three.
The Peacocks held Lewis, the third-highest service-ace team in the conference, to four aces. The Flyers normally average 1.86 assists per set. The Flyers had a 50-47 kills advantage and a 14-6 block advantage. UIU had more digs, 69-66.
Setter Grace Malek had 18 assists for the Flyers, while Rachel Kaczorowski had 12. Elena Gubera led the team with 17 digs, while Kynzie Lilly had 13 and Buxton had 10.
The Peacocks are back in Dorman Memorial Gymnasium on Saturday at 4 p.m. against No. 21 UIndy (12-2, 2-1 GLVC). The Greyhounds were upset by Truman State (Mo.) (6-7, 2-1 GLVC) on Friday night. Truman scored the five of the final seven points in the fifth set to secure the upset.
