UNI volleyball visits Indiana on MVC road trip

UNI volleyball at Indiana State

6 p.m. ET (5 p.m. CT) | Oct. 21
Terre Haute, Ind. | ISU Arena (500)
1540 KXEL - Panther Sports Radio Network (Chris Kleinhans-Schulz: Play-by-Play)
ESPN3
Live Stats

UNI volleyball at Evansville

5 p.m. CT | Oct. 22
Evansville, Ind. | Meeks Family Fieldhouse (1,164)
UNIpanthers.com (Chris Kleinhans-Schulz: Play-by-Play)
ESPN3
Live Stats

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Only nine matches remain in the regular season as the UNI Panther volleyball team starts the second half of Missouri Valley Conference play on the road at Indiana State and Evansville. UNI improved to 9-0 in league contests while posting its first-ever 5-0 MVC homestand. In all of the previous 11 conference seasons that started at 9-0 or better, the Panthers would win at least a share of the regular season championship.

A plethora of Panthers enter this road swing with significant milestones on the horizon. Baylee Petersen is 22 digs shy of 1,000 career digs and 10 aces away from 100 career aces. Emily Holterhaus needs 14 attacks to match Shannon Aschoff (3,325) for 10th in Panther history and is also three blocks short of 200 career rejections. Carly Spies officially sits at 296 total blocks putting her four rejections away from 300 career stuffs. Kira Fallert is approaching 500 career kills and digs with current totals of 481 kills and 458 digs.

INDIANA STATE SYCAMORES
• Indiana State trails UNI, 65-7, in head-to-head meetings. Each of the past two season series ended in 1-1 splits.
• The Sycamores landed in eighth place in the MVC preseason poll and currently share 11th place with Illinois State entering the second half.
• Within conference matches only, Indiana State is the league leader in digging (18.23 digs per set) and blocking (2.63 blocks per set).
• Sycamore libero Melina Tedrow is 21 digs away from becoming the first individual in program history reach the 2,000-dig threshold.
• This past season, Indiana State and in-state rival Evansville tied for fifth place with identical 9-9 records. The Sycamores reached the 2021 MVC Semifinals and qualified for their first-ever postseason berth by getting into the 2021 NIVC.

EVANSVILLE PURPLE ACES
• Evansville sits behind UNI, 55-3, in the all-time series including a 3-2 loss at Meeks Family Fieldhouse last November.
• The Purple Aces were second in the MVC preseason poll and begin its second-half slate in a three-way tie for fourth place.
• Prior to its upcoming homestand, Evansville earned its first-ever road win over Illinois State in Saturday's 3-0 sweep.
• Purple Ace right side Giulia Cardona tops all conference attackers and servers with 349 overall kills and 41 total aces.
• This past season, Evansville and in-state rival Indiana State tied for fifth place with identical 9-9 records. The Purple Aces lost to Valparaiso in the 2021 MVC first round and the 2021 NIVC quarterfinals.

PANTHER NOTES
• The Panthers top all Missouri Valley Conference programs in RPI (43), strength of schedule (51), and Top 100 RPI wins (six). Three of those Top 100 wins came in a five-day span last week.
• UNI is one of 19 Division I teams with an undefeated conference record. Only Hofstra (10-0, CAA), Wright State (9-0, Horizon), San Jose State (9-0, Mountain West), and Loyola (9-0, A-10) join the Panthers with at least nine league victories within that group.
• The Panthers are perfect in second and fourth sets against MVC competition so far this season. UNI's overall record in fourth frames is 11-3 with all 11 of those victories in succession beginning in the home opener against Western Michigan in September's UNI Tournament.
• UNI is 11-5 in "deuce sets" including six consecutive wins in frames decided by the minimum of two points. The Panthers are also 6-2 in extended sets with four wins in a row during frames that go into "bonus ball".
• Inga Rotto has not missed a single match during her UNI career. Her 144 consecutive contests represent the best streak for any individual in Missouri Valley Conference history. She also owns the UNI career record for total matches played (144) along with the all-time mark for total sets played (528).
• Rotto is on a career-best six-match double-figure kill streak to start October featuring an attack percentage of .468.
• 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.
• Head coach Bobbi Petersen is 6-for-13 in video challenges this season. In comparison, 2022 Panther opponents are a combined 8-of-24 in replay reviews versus UNI.
• ISU Arena was the site of the 500th career victories for both UNI's Bobbi Petersen (Oct. 25, 2019) and UNI's Iradge Ahrabi-Fard (Nov. 18, 2000).

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