UNI Topples Louisville in NCAA Tournament, 3-0

Friday, December 1

Minneapolis, Minnesota

4:30 p.m.

University of Northern Iowa

27-8

Louisville

24-7

UNI

Louisville

UNI Topples Louisville in NCAA Tournament, 3-0

12/1/2017 6:51:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score UNI-Louisville-vb-boxscore-2017

BOX SCORE (PDF) | QUOTES (PDF)

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota - The University of Northern Iowa volleyball squad recorded a 3-0 sweep of the co-Atlantic Coast Conference champion Louisville Cardinals in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament. UNI won by set scores of 25-21, 25-15, 27-25.

UNI (27-8 overall) recorded the program's 15th NCAA Tournament victory and first triumph since the 2012 season. It marks the 12th time that the Panthers have reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Panthers rode the hitting of Piper Thomas and Karlie Taylor to the victory. Thomas recorded a match-high 18 kills and hit .500 with only two attack errors. Taylor posted her team-leading 25th double-double with 17 kills and 15 digs. Junior Bri Weber posted a team-best 18 digs.

UNI jumped out quickly to a 4-1 advantage. Louisville evened at 7-7 before pushing its advantage to as many as three points. Louisville led 18-15 when the Panthers made their decisive 6-0 run to take a 21-15 lead. UN would close out the first set, 25-21. UNI posted 16 kills and hit .263, while Louisville recorded 14 kills and hit .220.

The second set was tied at 11-11 before another crucial 6-0 run for the Panthers turned the momentum around. UNI would eventually finish the run at 8-1 and hold a 19-12 lead when the Cardinals called a timeout. Louisville pulled to within five points at 19-14, but the Panthers would not be denied. A block from Moriah Johnson and Jaydlin Seehase gave the Panthers a set point and Taylor fired a service ace to give UNI a 25-15 win.

Louisville looked to battle back in the third set and built a 20-16 lead. UNI would answer with a 4-0 run to tie the set at 20-20. However, Louisville would take a 24-22 lead and had two set points to force a fourth set. Louisville's Amanda Green posted a service error to pull the Panthers to within one and then UNI tied it at 24-24 on a kill by Thomas. Louisville's Jasmine Bennett gave the Cardinals a third set point at 25-24 on a kill. But UNI refused to give in and scored the final three points. Thomas got a kill to knot it at 25-25 and Taylor answered with another kill of her own to give UNI a match point. The Panthers won the match on a block by Heather Hook and Johnson.

UNI will take on Minnesota on Saturday at 8 p.m. The match will be televised live on the Big Ten Network.

NOTES: UNI will be looking for its fourth NCAA Sweet 16 appearance with a win in its next match ... UNI moved to 26-2 when winning the first set ... UNI also moved to 687-9 when leading a match, 2-0 ... UNI set its single-season team attacks (5,192) and team digs (2,501) ... Karlie Taylor set the single-season attack record for UNI with 1,320 (previous mark of 1,303 set by Bri Weber in 2015) ... Weber now ranks second on the single-season attack chart with 1,311 this season ... UNI head coach Bobbi Petersen improves to 10-12 in the NCAA Tournament