University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
2-4
USC
6-0
No. 6 USC Withstands UNI, 3-0
9/6/2014 1:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Northern Iowa volleyball team put up a strong effort on Saturday despite falling short against the No. 6-ranked USC Trojans at the Commonwealth Classic.
USC (6-0 overall) withstood UNI (2-4 overall) in a three-game sweep that was anything but easy for the Trojans. USC won by set scores of 25-21, 25-22, 27-25.
USC opened up first-set leads of 9-3 and 18-9 before UNI charged back into the contest. The Panthers cut the lead to 22-18 and eventually pulled within three at 24-21. USC had a .224 hitting percentage in the set with 18 kills, while UNI had a .159 hitting percentage with 12 kills.
The Panthers took their first lead of the match in the second set at 10-9 on a kill by Eryca Hingtgen. Ashlee Sinnott added a kill to give the lead back to the Panthers again at 15-14. The Trojans responded and took a three-point lead before a kill by UNI's Kayla Haneline trimmed it back to 23-21 in favor of USC. Hingtgen pulled the Panthers to within 24-22 with a kill before USC was able to close out the set, 25-22.
UNI had the early advantage in the third set and held a 9-6 lead following an ace by Kinsey Caldwell. But a 5-0 run by USC gave the Trojans an 11-9 lead. UNI refused to yield and pushed the Panther lead to 15-13 in a kill by Haneline. The third set continued back and forth with the match tied at 15-15 and at 20-20. UNI's Lindsey Schulz notched a kill to give the Panthers a 23-22 lead. Schulz then landed another kill to give the Panthers a set point at 24-23. Hingtgen had a swing to force another game but an attack error gave the point to USC. USC's Ebony Nwanebu landed the final blow of the match as her kill gave the Trojans a 27-25 third-set win.
Nwanebu tallied a match-high 15 kills and had a .406 hitting percentage.
UNI will open its home season on Tues., Sept. 9, against Northern Illinois University. The match is slated to start at 7 p.m. in the McLeod Center.
NOTES: Sophomore libero Amie Held was named to the Commonwealth Classic All-Tournament team ... Held averaged 5.33 digs/set in the tournament ... the 3-0 sweep by USC marked the first sweep of UNI since No. 5 Nebraska posted a 3-0 victory over the Panthers in the 2012 NCAA Tournament (Nov. 30, 2012) … Hingtgen posted a team-high 11 kills … Amie Held recorded a team-best 22 digs … Autumn Alitz notched a match-high four blocks.
