University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
Creighton
Panthers Lose Heartbreaker to Creighton in Five
11/3/2012 1:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
CEDAR FALLS, Ia.- The University of Northern Iowa volleyball team lost a heartbreaker to Creighton University Saturday night in the McLeod Center. The Panthers fell 18-25, 23-25, 25-11, 25-17, 8-15, to the Bluejays.
Krista DeGeest led the way for the Panthers with 19 kills, a season high for her, and a .375 hitting percentage. Shelby Kintzel led with a .379 hitting percentage and Megan Lehman had 14 kills to follow DeGeest. Molly Turk had 49 assists and Candice Burke recorded 26 digs. Amy Braun and Jenny Willms followed with 18 digs each and this was a career high for Willms.
Creighton jumped out to an early 9-5 lead at the first timeout of the first set. Thanks to kills by Shelby Kintzel, Macy Ubben and Megan Lehman, the Panthers brought the set back to within two at 13-11. The Bluejays then went on a 4-1 run to give them the five-point lead at 17-12. UNI could not catch back up with Creighton and the Bluejays won the set 25-18.
With the score tied at 11-11 in the second set, a kill by Creighton gave them the 12-11 lead. The Jays held a very slim lead until a kill by Lehman brought the Panthers to within one at 17-16 and an attack error by Creighton helped them tie it at 17-17. A kill by Ubben gave the Panthers the 18-17 lead, but the Jays answered in the next play with a kill to tie it back up at 18-18. The next several plays went back and forth until the set was tied up again at 20-20. Creighton got a kill in the next plat to give them the 21-20 lead. Creighton held off the Panthers and won the set 25-23.
Creighton had the 5-6 lead when Krista DeGeest got back-to-back kills to give the Panthers the 7-6 advantage. UNI boosted that lead to 11-8 and then went on a dominating 9-0 run to make it 20-8. The Panthers ran away with the rest of the set and won it 25-11.
UNI grabbed an early 9-6 lead in the fourth set and kills by Lehman and DeGeest helped the Panthers expand that lead to 15-9. UNI held the momentum the rest of the set, and Creighton could not match it. The Panthers won the set 25-17 and tied the match up at 2-2.
The score was tied 4-4 in the fifth set when Creighton got a kill in the next play to take the lead at 5-4. The Jays expanded that lead to 8-5 at a UNI timeout. The Panthers could not catch Creighton and the Jays won the set 15-8 and the match 3-2.
The Panthers hit the road next weekend for the last time in regular season play. They will take on Southern Illinois at 7:00 p.m. on Friday in Carbondale.
