University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
Illinois State
UNI Drops Five-Game Heartbreaker to Illinois State
10/6/2007 8:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 6, 2007
Normal, Ill. - In a marathon match that lasted more than two and a half hours, Illinois State came out on top over the University of Northern Iowa volleyball team, 3-2, tonight at Redbird Arena. Game scores in favor of the Redbirds were 30-26, 28-30, 20-30, 35-33 and 21-19. With the loss, UNI drops to 0-5 in five-game matches this season.
UNI won the battle statistically in virtually every category. The Panthers had more kills (94-93), digs (108-99), blocks (10-8) and had a better hitting percentage (.320-.250) than the Redbirds, but were unable to come out on top.
UNI senior setter Kristin Belzung (Ankeny, Iowa) had her second career triple-double, with 10 kills, 17 digs and a career-high 71 assists. Belzung is just the sixth UNI player ever to have multiple triple-doubles during her career. All five primary Panthers hitters also reached double-figures in kills, led by Ashten Stelken (Manchester, Iowa) with a career-high 22. Laura Rowen (Hansell, Iowa) had a season-best 20 kills, Shannon Aschoff (Ankeny, Iowa) and Amy Sampson (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) each had 16, and Danielle Brazda (Omaha, Neb.) added 10. During the match, Brazda topped the 1000th kill mark for her career, becoming the 17th UNI player to reach that historic milestone.
Illinois State led 21-15 in the first game, but the Panthers went on a 7-2 run to pull within 23-22. UNI remained within one point as late as 27-26, but the Redbirds ran off the final three points of the game to earn a 30-26 win. UNI hit an impressive .340 in game one, but Illinois State was even better at .458.
UNI held a slight lead throughout most of game two and was able to pull out a 30-28 win and even the match at one game apiece. After Illinois State pulled within 23-22, Rowen and Stelken racked up back-to-back kills to put the Panthers back up by three. UNI held a three-point lead at 29-26, before ISU's Kari Staehlin had consecutive kills to pull the Redbirds within 29-28. After a Panthers timeout, however, Aschoff gave the Panthers the game victory with a kill.
The Panthers dominated game three, jumping to a quick 10-5 lead and never letting ISU closer than five points the rest of the way. UNI held a double-digit lead for the second half of the game, hitting .385 en route to a 30-20 win and a two games to one advantage.
The fourth and fifth game turned into epic battles, with each team having opportunities to win multiple times. In game four, Illinois State held a 21-16 lead before the Panthers battled back. UNI reeled off a 6-2 run to pull within 23-22. The Panthers were finally able to pull even at 26-all after a Belzung kill, and the Panthers took their first lead of the game, 29-28, on a Redbird attack error. That was the first of three match points for UNI, at 29-28, 30-29 and 33-32 but was stopped each time; Illinois State had game point opportunities at 31-30, 32-31 stopped, before taking a 34-33 lead, and getting a service ace by M.C. Richmond to give ISU a 35-33 win and force game five.
Illinois State jumped out to a 5-2 lead in game five, forcing an early timeout by UNI head coach Bobbi Petersen. Trailing 8-5, UNI went on a 7-1 run to go in front 12-9. Illinois State scored four of the next five points to pull even at 13-all, before a Rowen kill gave UNI its fourth match point opportunity at 14-13. UNI was stymied on match point a total of five times in game five, at 14-13, 15-14, 16-15, 17-16, and 19-18, while Illinois State was stopped on match point at 18-17. After the Redbirds pulled even at 19-all, a UNI attack error and a kill by Richmond - her 28th of the match - gave ISU the 21-19 victory.
The Panthers fall to 9-9 overall, 4-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference, while Illinois State improves to 13-6, 5-3 in the Valley. UNI's next match is Tuesday (Oct. 9) when the Panthers travel to Macomb, Ill., to face Western Illinois.
