University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
Drake
UNI Sweeps Drake for Fourth Straight Win
10/19/2007 8:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 19, 2007
Des Moines, Iowa - Ashten Stelken (Manchester, Iowa) had 19 kills and Amy Sampson (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) added 16 to lead the University of Northern Iowa volleyball team to a 3-0 sweep of Drake Friday night at the Knapp Center. Game scores were 40-38, 30-17 and 30-21. UNI posted its fourth straight win and improved to 13-9 overall, 7-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference, while Drake fell to 5-16, 2-8 in the Valley.
Sophomore Shannon Aschoff (Ankeny, Iowa) had her second career double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs, while Laura Rowen (Hansell, Iowa) added nine kills and seven digs for UNI. In addition, in the first game, Rowen topped 1,000 digs for her career, becoming the 10th UNI player ever to reach that plateau. Rowen, who ended the match with totals of 1,266 kills and 1,003 digs over four years, also became just the sixth Panther to reach both the 1,000 kill and 1,000 dig marks. The five other UNI players to reach 1,000 in both categories for their careers were all-time Panther greats Bobbi Becker Petersen (1986-89), Kate Galer (1993-96), Alex Auker (1997-2000), Kim McCaffrey Davis (1997-2001) and Kim Kester (1999-2002).
The first game was a back-and-forth battle the entire way. Neither team held more than a three-point lead at any point - Drake's held leads of 5-2, 10-7 and 12-9, while UNI was up by three at 21-18. After Drake rallied to go in front 27-25, the Panthers got back-to-back kills from Stelken and Danielle Brazda (Omaha, Neb.) to pull even. A kill from Angela Bys gave Drake a 29-28 lead, and the first of what would turn out to be six game points for the Bulldogs, only to be turned away by the Panthers each time. UNI had five game points of its own, finally putting the game away, 40-38, as Aschoff and Stelken teamed up for a block. Stelken had eight kills in the first game, while Bys had 13 of her match-high 22 kills in game one for the Bulldogs.
The 40-38 win by the Panthers in the first game was the highest-scoring game in UNI history, and tied a Missouri Valley Conference record for points in a game. The Panthers previous high scoring game was a 38-36 loss to Clemson on Aug. 26, 2006. Missouri State also scored 40 points in a 40-38 win over Drake on Nov. 8, 2003. The 40 points by UNI also was the 13th best total by a winning team in NCAA history, since rally scoring was implemented in 2001.
With the score tied at 10-all in game two, UNI went on a 6-1 run to open a 16-11 lead. Stelken had two kills, and UNI was helped out by three Drake errors, during that stretch. Drake didn't get closer than four points the rest of the way as the Panthers posted a 30-17 win. UNI hit .275 in game two, while holding Drake to .000 hitting.
The Panthers never trailed in game three, jumping to an 8-1 lead. Drake rallied to pull within two, 10-8, but UNI responded with a 6-1 run to extend its advantage to 16-9. Drake didn't get closer than five points the rest of the way, as Stelken and Sampson combined for 11 kills in game three to lead the Panthers to the 30-21 win and the match sweep.
UNI travels to Omaha, Neb., to face Creighton tomorrow night (Oct. 20), with first serve set for 7 pm.
