Panther volleyball welcomes UIC, Valparaiso for final weekend of homestand

UNI volleyball vs. UIC | Pink Out

6 p.m. CT | Oct. 14
Cedar Falls, Iowa | McLeod Center (6,650)
1540 KXEL - Panther Sports Radio Network (Chris Kleinhans-Schulz: Play-by-Play)
ESPN3
Live Stats

UNI volleyball vs. Valparaiso | Faculty & Staff Appreciation

7 p.m. CT | Oct. 15
Cedar Falls, Iowa | McLeod Center (6,650)
UNIpanthers.com (Chris Kleinhans-Schulz: Play-by-Play)
Live Stats

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Another pair of challenging tests await the UNI Panther volleyball team in its upcoming home tilts against the UIC Flames and the Valparaiso Beacons to end UNI's first five-match homestand since a 4-1 stretch in October 2017. The Panthers enter the penultimate and final contests of this home swing with perfect marks of 7-0 in the Missouri Valley Conference and 6-0 in the McLeod Center.

First-place UNI opened this homestand last week by defeating the Bradley Braves in straight sets before posting a 3-1 victory against the Illinois State Redbirds. Last time out, the Panthers defeated the Drake Bulldogs, 3-1, Tuesday to drop their in-state foe into a second-place tie with the Flames and the Beacons and secure UNI's current two-match lead in the standings. The victory also gave the Panthers their season-best seventh consecutive win and 13 total wins across their past 14 outings.

UIC FLAMES
• UIC is just 3-11 against UNI in head-to-head meetings. The Flames lost a four-setter to the Panthers last month in the Flames Athletic Center.
• Justin Ingram, a previous MVC head coach at Southern Illinois (2012-16), is in his sixth season at UIC and his 14th overall year as an NCAA head coach.
• The Flames finished third in the MVC preseason poll and own an active five-match win streak after losing its first two conference tilts.
• UIC middle blocker Becca Oldendorf ranks second in league-only hitting (.453) and sixth in league-only blocking (1.08).
• The Flames capped their Horizon League tenure by winning the conference tournament and qualifying for their first NCAA Championship. UIC lost to top-seeded Louisville in the opening round.

VALPARAISO BEACONS
• Valparaiso has a 4-15 record versus UNI and had its program-record 12-0 start to the year end in a 3-2 loss against the Panthers in the Athletics-Recreation Center.
• Carin Avery is in her 21st season as the head coach and formerly served in a similar capacity at both Southern California College (now Vanguard) and Bethel.
• The Beacons were fifth in the MVC preseason poll and currently have a four-match win streak following losses in two of their previous three contests.
• Valparaiso libero Emma Hickey tops all conference performers in total digs (416) and league-only digs (173).
• Last year, the Beacons hosted the 2021 National Invitational Volleyball Championship title tilt and finished as the NIVC runner-up to UNLV.

PANTHER NOTES
• This is the 13th time in the last 25 seasons that UNI won its first seven Missouri Valley Conference matches. The Panthers earned a top-two finish in 11 of the prior 12 instances in this stretch with eight regular season titles.
• Inga Rotto is on a four-match double-figure kill streak with an attack percentage of .479 to begin October. Rotto's .643 efficiency against Drake matched her best single-match rate which was set against Valparaiso in the 2018 MVC Semifinals.
• Rotto also extended her appearance streak to 142 consecutive contests to begin her career. She owns the UNI career record for total matches played (142) along with the all-time mark for total sets played (520).
• Emily Holterhaus has participated in 108 consecutive tilts to open her Panther tenure. Holterhaus enters the weekend needing five more blocks to reach 200 career blocks.
• Tayler Alden is tied with Shannon Perry and Mary Bernhardt for third in career triple-doubles. Alden's next triple-double will move her into a second-place tie with Kara Galer (six).
• Kira Fallert and Carly Spies were UNI's top performers during a Panther road trip sweep of Valparaiso and UIC in September. Fallert tallied 33 kills including a then-season-high 18 terminations versus the Beacons, and Spies averaged 1.33 blocks per set for the week with exactly six rejections in each win.
• Olivia Tjernagel has recorded at least one block in 21 consecutive outings. This stretch, which is the longest of her career, started Nov. 12, 2021 at Indiana State.
• Although kills from defensive specialists are rare, Baylee Petersen notched one termination in each of the last two Panther wins. Her kill late in an extended second set against Drake was followed by a combined block from Kaylissa Arndorfer and Rotto that clinched a 29-27 win.
• Head coach Bobbi Petersen is 5-for-12 in video challenges this season. In comparison, 2022 Panther opponents are a combined 6-of-19 in replay reviews versus UNI.

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