University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
*Southern Illinois
Balanced Attack Leads UNI to Win over Southern Illinois
10/22/2005 8:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 22, 2005
Carbondale, Ill. - Five Panthers reached double figures in kills as the University of Northern Iowa volleyball team topped Southern Illinois, 3-1, Saturday night. Game scores were 30-25, 30-26, 28-30 and 30-25.
Trista Humpal (New Hampton, Iowa) and Danielle Brazda (Omaha, Neb.) led the way with 15 kills apiece for the Panthers. Ashten Stelken (Manchester, Iowa) and Amy Sampson (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) each had 13 kills, and Stephanie Germann (LeMars, Iowa) added 10. Junior libero Stephanie May (Dubuque, Iowa) had a career high 29 digs for UNI.
The Panthers took the lead for good in the first game at 11-10, eventually winning 30-25. UNI, which hit .282 (15-4-39) in the first game to just .087 (12-8-46) for SIU, was led offensively by Stelken, who had six kills, while Brazda added five.
UNI made a late push to claim the second game and a 2-0 lead. With the score tied at 26-all, the Panthers scored the final four points - two on service aces by setter Kristin Belzung (Ankeny, Iowa) - to win, 30-26. Humpal had seven kills and hit an impressive .700 (7-0-10) in the second game.
The third game was close throughout, and tied as late as 27-all. After that, the Panthers had two straight hitting errors to give SIU a 29-27 lead, and after a Saluki hitting error, SIU's Katy DeWulf recorded a kill to give her team a 30-28 victory.
Trailing 19-17 in game four, the Panthers went on a 6-0 run on May's serve to open a 23-19 lead. May had a service ace and UNI was helped by a pair of SIU ball handling errors during that stretch. SIU pulled to within two points, 26-24, but UNI claimed four of the final five points to win, 30-25, and claim the match.
With the win, UNI improves to 14-8 overall, 8-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference, while Southern Illinois falls to 7-13 overall, 4-7 in the MVC. UNI returns home to face Bradley on Friday, Oct. 28. First serve from the West Gym is set for 7:00 p.m.
