Volleyball: A Year in Review

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – UNI volleyball opened the season with two top-15 wins and closed it out with conference titles, its 22nd berth to the NCAA tournament and new school records.

The Panthers finished 24-10 overall and earned their 18th Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) regular-season title and their 17th MVC tournament title.

RECORD-SETTING YEAR
As a team, the Panthers led the MVC in total kills (1,890) and kills per set (15.00) and assists per set (14.16). Individually, junior Karlie Taylor led the MVC in kills per set (4.77), while junior Rachel Koop topped the conference in assists per set (11.97).

Kendyl Sorge and Piper Thomas moved into the top two spots in career sets played in 2018. Thomas finished her career in the #2 spot with 510 and Sorge finished at the top having never missed a set in her four year career with 512 sets played. The pair top UNI's list in matches played with 138.

Thomas also leads UNI's all-time list in solo blocks with 98 and is fourth in career kills with 1,572. She is fourth in career points with 1,870 and sixth in career attack percentage with a .309 mark. Thomas ended her career 12th in MVC history with 1,572 career kills.

Sorge's 2,323 career digs rank her second in program history along with her 4.54 digs per set. Sorge's 592 digs in 2018 have her eighth in a season and her 4.70 digs per set ranks ninth in program history for a single season. She finished fifth all-time in MVC history in career digs with 2,323.

Karlie Taylor is now tied for fourth all-time in Valley history in single-match kills after recording 34 kills against Evansville Nov. 16. Taylor also ranks 11th all-time in the conference with 563 kills in a single season. Taylor's impressive 2018 campaign puts her at the top of UNI's list in total attacks in a season with 1,452. She is second with 563 kills in a season and fourth with 4.77 kills per set in a season.

Rachel Koop's 1,508 assists rank her 13th in the MVC in single-season assists. Koop is now fifth among all Panthers in total assists for a season with 1,508 and her 11.97 assists per set now rank ninth in program history.

INDIVIDUAL HONORS
Consistent play earned three Panthers MVC Player of the Week honors in 2018:

Piper Thomas: MVC Player of the Week two times
Karlie Taylor: MVC Player of the Week four times
Kendyl Sorge: MVC Defensive Player of the Week once

The Panthers dominated MVC play, earning five All-MVC selections:

Jaydlin Seehase, Kate Busswitz: Second Team All-MVC
Piper Thomas, Karlie Taylor, Rachel Koop: First Team All-MVC

Thomas was named MVC Player of the Year, becoming the 13th Panther to earn the award and the first since Bre Payton won three in a row. The Panthers lead all MVC schools in First Team selections with 83 total, 22 more than Illinois State's 61 First Team selections.

The Panthers earned three AVCA All-Midwest Region selections in Thomas, Taylor and Koop. Head coach Bobbi Petersen was named AVCA Midwest Region Coach of the Year. Thomas was named an AVCA Honorable Mention All-American for the second time in her career.

COMPETITVE PLAY
Petersen proved again that a highly competitive non-conference schedule sets up the Panthers for success.

UNI opened the season in Los Angeles against three top-25 teams, beating No. 13 Creighton, 3-0 and No. 5 Kentucky in five sets. UNI fell to No. 10 USC. Taylor and Koop made the All-Tournament Team. Taylor finished the tournament with 53 kills while also recording 31 digs. Koop ended with 124 assists in the Panthers' three matches, including 51 assists in the Panthers' victory over Kentucky.

The early wins in California helped UNI finish No. 22 in the final RPI report. UNI cracked the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll twice, being ranked as high as No. 17.

The Panthers returned to Cedar Falls to host Iowa State in the McLeod Center. The in-state clash was attended by 6,415 fans, making the contest the highest attended match of the year in the MVC and ranks sixth all-time in MVC attendance.

The Panthers picked up a first-round victory over Lipscomb at the Active Ankle Challenge before falling to No. 8 Illinois and No. 10 Creighton. Taylor, Thomas and Sorge were named to the All-Tournament Team, and Taylor was named Tournament MVP.

"I'm proud of how our team handled the challenges of our non-conference schedule," Petersen said. "Getting the opportunity to compete against the best in the country allows us not only a measuring stick and evaluation of areas needed for improvement moving forward but also provides opportunities to earn postseason possibilities."

The Panthers rattled off 13 consecutive MVC victories before falling to Illinois State on the road. After falling to Evansville a week later, the Panthers defeated Indiana State to finish the conference season at 16-2. Both the Panthers and Redbirds were crowned MVC regular-season co-champions with 16-2 records.

"The conference season is a grueling race requiring consistency and focus in performance night in and night out," said Petersen. "This team, as always had high expectations within the conference season and their ability to get better every day and commit to one day at a time contributed to the successes in conference play. We brought both a regular season and tournament championship back to our program along with numerous individual honors and awards which was a result of each member embracing their role and understanding their importance."

UNI entered the MVC Tournament as the top seed, defeating Valparaiso 3-1 in the first round and then defeating Illinois in the championship match to capture the Panthers 17th MVC Tournament Title. Taylor, Sorge and Thomas earned All-Tournament team honors. Thomas was named the MVC Tournament MVP.

The Panthers won an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament with the MVC Tournament title. The Panthers traveled to Madison, Wisconsin, for the first round to face Pepperdine. The Panthers dropped the first two sets before storming back in the third and fourth sets. However, Pepperdine grabbed the fifth set to close out the 2018 season for UNI.

"I am incredibly proud of the contributions of our senior class not just this season, but throughout their careers," Petersen said. "They have all had very different roles while each having impacted the program in significant ways. The on-court contributions and production are obvious, but they have brought so much more. We will miss their daily example, leadership, work ethic, grit, and just love for the game and being a UNI Panther. The awesome part is, these young ladies will go out and continue to make a difference and impact lives."

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