Panthers to Play Host to Loaded UNI Tournament

Friday, September 4

Cedar Falls, Iowa

4:30 p.m.

University of Northern Iowa

Creighton vs. USC

Panthers to Play Host to Loaded UNI Tournament

9/1/2015 3:55:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

UNI will be joined by No. 8 USC, No. 10 Kentucky and Creighton.

Weekly Notes (PDF)

This Week's Action
Fri., Sept. 4 -- UNI Tournament (Cedar Falls, Iowa)
Creighton vs. #8 Southern California, 4:30 p.m. - Live Stats
#10 Kentucky at UNI, 6:30 p.m. - Live Stats | ESPN3

Sat., Sept. 5 -- UNI Tournament (Cedar Falls, Iowa)
#8 Southern California vs. #10 Kentucky, 10 a.m. - Live Stats
Creighton at UNI, 12 p.m. - Live Stats | ESPN3
Creighton vs. #10 Kentucky, 5:30 p.m. - Live Stats
#8 Southern California vs. UNI, 7:30 p.m. - Live Stats | ESPN3

UNI TOURNAMENT FOES
The University of Northern Iowa women's volleyball team will play its first home matches of the season in the McLeod Center this Friday and Saturday. The Panthers will serve as the host for the 2015 UNI Tournament - featuring the Creighton Bluejays, the No. 8-ranked Southern California Trojans and the No. 10-ranked Kentucky Wildcats.

TOURNAMENT TICKETS
Tickets are available for Friday ($5) and Saturday ($10) by calling the UNI ticket office at 319-273-4849.

THE VALLEY ON ESPN3 DEBUT
UNI will make its The Valley on ESPN3 debut this Friday and Saturday with the UNI volleyball team and its action-packed tournament in the McLeod Center.
The initial broadcast will feature UNI taking on the No. 10-ranked Kentucky Wildcats Friday at 6:30 p.m. Saturday's UNI matches against Creighton (12 p.m.) and No. 8-ranked Southern California (7:30 p.m.) will also be shown live on The Valley on ESPN3.
Brad Wells (play-by-play) and Barb Randall (analyst) will call the action this weekend.
UNI Athletics will work in conjunction with Around the Corner Productions, Inc., to produce The Valley on ESPN3 broadcasts.

RADIO COVERAGE
Live radio coverage of the UNI Panther volleyball team can be found on www.UNIPanthers.com and KXEL (1540-AM). All audio this year will be free of charge (no subscription service).
Chris Kleinhans-Schulz returns for his fourth season as the play-by-play voice of Panther volleyball.

Live Audio Coverage Schedule
Fri., vs. Kentucky - KXEL (1540-AM)
Sat., vs. Creighton - KXEL (1540-AM)
Sat., vs. USC - UNIPanthers.com

Scouting Kentucky
Kentucky returns eight letterwinners and four starters (plus its libero) from a squad that posted a 27-6 mark and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats roster features a pair of prep stars from the Cedar Valley in Kaz Brown (Waterloo, Iowa/Cedar Falls HS) and Brooke Morgan (Dike, Iowa/Dike-New Hartford HS). The Wildcats have made 16 appearances in the NCAA Tournament, including 10 straight coming into the 2015 season.
Kentucky vaulted up to No. 10 in the AVCA Top 25 after going 3-0 with victories over No. 19 Michigan State (3-2), IUPUI (3-0) and Little Rock (3-0).

Scouting Creighton
Creighton returns 11 letterwinners and four starters (plus its libero) from a team that went 25-9 and won the BIG Eat regular season and tournament titles. The Bluejays have reached the NCAA Tournament in three consecutive seasons. Jess Bird, the preseason BIG East player of the year, leads the Bluejays into Cedar Falls. Creighton is 1-2 on the season after posting a win over Miami (Ohio) at the Illini Classic. The Bluejays lost matches to Louisville and No. 8-ranked Illinois.

Scouting USC
Southern California posted a 16-16 record last season and returns eight letterwinners to go along with four starters (plus its libero). USC has made 32 apperances in the NCAA Tournament and has won six national titles (1976, 1977, 1980, 1981, 2002 and 2003). Samantha Bricio will lead the Trojans into the 2015 season as a returning second-team AVCA All-America choice. USC moved up to No. 8 in the AVCA Top 25 poll after scoring wins over No. 7 North Carolina (3-1), Chicago State (3-0) and No. 11 BYU (3-0).

ALL-TIME SERIES
UNI is 0-2 all-time vs. Kentucky. The Wildcats scored a five-set win over the Panthers in the McLeod Center on Aug. 25, 2007. UK also posted a 3-1 win over UNI last season in Lexington, Ky.

UNI and Creighton were long-time Missouri Valley Conference foes with the Panthers holding a 40-6 lead in the all-time series. However, Creighton has won three consecutive matchups against UNI - including a five-set win last season in Lexington, Ky.

UNI is 0-2 all-time vs. Southern California. USC notched a three-set win over UNI last season in Lexington, Ky.

UNPARALLED START FOR WEBER
Freshman outside hitter Bri Weber became the first UNI Panther freshman to debut with double figures in kills and digs in her first match.
In fact, Weber posted double figures in kills and digs in each of the first two matches of her career.

Weber dazzled in her collegiate debut by earning a start and then posting 18 kills and 21 digs in a 3-1 win over UC Davis.

Weber recorded her second straight double-double with 13 kills and 11 digs in a five-set match vs. Baylor. Weber finished her first weekend as a collegian by posting her third straight double-figure dig match with 14 digs against No. 12 Colorado State.

Weber completed the weekend by sharing the team lead in kills with 32 (2.67 kills/set). She ranks second on the squad in digs with 46 (3.83 digs/set).

HOOK EARNS ALL-TOURNEY
HONORS AT COLORADO STATE
Sophomore Heather Hook was named to the Rams Volleyball Classic all-tournament team. Hook made the first three collegiate starts of her career and averaged 9.83 assists/set.

1,000 DIG CLUB FOR HELD
Junior Amie Held surpassed the 1,000 career dig mark in the season opener vs. UC Davis. She has tallied 1,035 career digs entering action this weekend.

TRIO OF DEBUTS IN STARTING LINEUP
UNI's lineup on Friday vs. UC Davis featured a trio of players making their first collegiate starts. Sophomore Heather Hook, freshman Piper Thomas and freshman Bri Weber each made their initial college starts against the Aggies.

Hook posted 43 assists, eight digs, six kills and three blocks, while Weber notched a double-double with 18 kills and 21 digs. Thomas recorded eight kills and two blocks in her first collegiate start vs. UC Davis.

HEAD COACH BOBBI PETERSEN
Head coach Bobbi Petersen is in her 16th year as the Panthers head coach. Petersen has posted an impressive 392-109 record at the helm of UNI's program, with seven Missouri Valley Conference regular season titles, eight MVC tournament crowns and two NCAA Sweet 16 appearances to her credit. She ranks in the top 10 of active Division I coaches in winning percentage (.785), with the Panthers winning 20 or more matches in 14 of her 15 years as head coach.

With her ninth win in the 2015 season, Petersen will join the 400-win club. She will become only the fourth MVC volleyball coach to have posted 400 wins - joining Linda Dollar (758 - Missouri State), Iradge Ahrabi-Fard (503 - UNI) and Melissa Stokes (414 - Missouri State) in that elite class.

10 CONSECUTIVE YEARS OF APR RECOGNITION, PERFECTION
For the past 10 years the NCAA has recognized teams in the top-10 percent of the Academic Progress Report and the UNI volleyball team has been on the list all nine years.
In fact, the UNI volleyball team has had a perfect score of 1,000 in each of the 10 years.

AVCA Team Academic Award
The UNI volleyball team compiled a 3.385 cumulative GPA during the 2014-15 season.
It marks the fourth consecutive season that the Panthers have earned the AVCA Team Academic Award.

AMONG ELITE COMPANY
The Panthers rank No. 6 all-time in NCAA Division I winning percentage (.782). UNI trails only Penn State (.866), Hawaii (.854), Nebraska (.840), Florida (.831) and Stanford (.813) in NCAA Division I winning percentage totals.

17 MVC REGULAR SEASON TITLES
The Panthers have tallied 17 MVC regular season titles through the years. UNI won the regular season title in 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013.

18 NCAA APPEARANCES
In its 18 trips to the NCAA tournament, UNI has posted 14 wins, advancing to at least the second round 11 times. UNI has advanced as far as the NCAA's Sweet 16 three times since 1999. In 2002, the Panthers went into the NCAA tournament as the No. 1 seed in the East Region.

HANELINE, HELD COMPETED FOR USA VOLLEYBALL OVER SUMMER
USA Volleyball selected 36 athletes, including UNI's Kayla Haneline and Amie Held, to participate in the U.S. Collegiate National Team (CNT) program that trained and competed in conjunction with the USA Volleyball Girls' Junior National Championships from June 21-29 in New Orleans, La.

VOLLEYBALL GOLF OUTING
The 2015 UNI volleyball golf outing is set for Sun., Sept. 27, at Fox Ridge Golf Course in Dike.
The four-person best shot will get underway at 12:30 p.m. with the shotgun start. The $45 entry per golfer includes green fees, flight prizes and flag events. For an additional $12 golfers can use a golf cart for the event. Entrants can also add in $8 per golfer for a meal following the golf.
Send golfer names, addresses, phone numbers along with $45 entry fee per golfer along with cart fee and meal fee (if applicable) to:
UNI Volleyball Golf Outing
P.O. Box 257
Dike, Iowa 50624
For questions call Joe Becker at 319-989-2405.

PANTHERS TABBED THIRD IN MVC PRESEASON POLL
The Panthers earned one first-place vote in the preseason Missouri Valley Conference coaches poll. UNI is projected to finish third behind Wichita State and Missouri State. UNI has finished in either first or second place in the final MVC standings in six consecutive seasons.

2015 PRESEASON POLL
1. Wichita State (7) 97
2. Missouri State (1) 87
3. UNI (1) 76
4. Southern Illinois (1) 72
5. Illinois State 63
6. Indiana State 50
7. Loyola 43
8. Drake 25
9. Evansville 22
10. Bradley 15

FAN FAVORITES
The Panthers consistently have ranked among the national leaders in attendance, including ranking No. 7 in the nation in 2014 with an MVC single-season record average of 3,118 fans per home match.

NCAA REGIONAL HOST
UNI will serve as the host to the 2015 Division I NCAA Tournament regional in Des Moines, Iowa, on Dec. 11-12.

The regional semifinals and final will take place in Wells Fargo Arena.

To purchase all-session tickets ($17 or $20) to the NCAA Regional contact the Wells Fargo Arena ticket office at 515-564-8300.

WEEKLY PRESS LUNCHEONS
UNI head coach Bobbi Petersen will be available at the weekly Press Luncheons held each Monday beginning at noon in the back room of Pepper's Grill and Sports Pub located on 18th Street in Cedar Falls.