UNI volleyball scores semifinal sweep at Evansville

Tuesday, November 22

Evansville, Ind.

3 p.m.

University of Northern Iowa

25-7,17-1MVC

Evansville (MVC Semifinal)

16-19,11-7MVC

Evansville

UNI

UNI volleyball scores semifinal sweep at Evansville

11/22/2022 6:20:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Match 32 Stats at Evansville

Panthers earn place in conference championship match

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – In its 2022 Missouri Valley Conference Volleyball Championship debut, the No. 1 UNI Panthers swept the tournament-hosting No. 5 Evansville Purple Aces, 3-0 (25-19, 32-30, 25-21), Tuesday afternoon in a semifinal contest at Meeks Family Fieldhouse.

UNI (25-7 overall) now holds a 31-2 all-time record as the top seed in conference tournament play with a perfect 17-0 mark in semifinal outings. The Panthers also qualify for their league-record-extending 26^th berth in the final round. Evansville (16-19 overall), which previously picked up wins over the No. 8 Bradley Braves and the No. 4 Southern Illinois Salukis, saw its run come to a close in its second-ever semifinal appearance.

Olivia Tjernagel totaled 13 kills on a career-best .688 attack percentage and tied with Carly Spies for the match high in blocks at three rejections each. Other leading efforts came via Tayler Alden's team-best 32 assists and Sydney Petersen's match-high-tying 10 digs. Plus, Emily Holterhaus collected 12 terminations compared to one error with .478 hitting, and Kira Fallert added 10 kills of her own. UNI led Evansville in attack efficiency (.385 to .194), digs (38 to 30), and blocks (six to four). The Purple Aces posted a six-to-four edge in service aces.

During the first set, five different Panthers registered kills as UNI built its initial 6-2 lead. Holterhaus and Fallert broke from the pack with errorless attacking to help the Panthers towards the 1-0 advantage in the tilt. A six-of-seven clip for Holterhaus and a 4-of-12 start from Fallert highlighted the UNI offense, and Inga Rotto and Tjernagel's combined block officially wrapped up the 25-19 triumph.

The Panthers and the Purple Aces combined for 21 ties and 12 lead changes in the second stanza with neither side leading by more than two points along the way. Evansville was denied on all four of its set points including when a critical kill by Spies evened the ledger at 30-30. Spies transitioned to the service zone and later forced an overpass which led to a Fallert termination on UNI's fourth set-point try to cap the 32-30 win and give the Panthers their 2-0 lead in the contest.

Following the intermission, Spies picked up right where she left off with a kill and a service ace opening the third frame for UNI en route to a 6-1 edge. The Evansville deficit was cut to three points on several occasions, but that was as close as the Purple Aces would get. On the final play of a wire-to-wire set, Alden's kill ended the 25-21 victory that finished the sweep.

The Missouri Valley Conference's automatic bid to the 2022 NCAA Volleyball Championship is up for grabs in Wednesday's title tilt featuring the Panthers along with the winner of the second MVC semifinal between the No. 2 Drake Bulldogs and the No. 3 UIC Flames. First serve is slated for 4 p.m. Wednesday at Meeks Family Fieldhouse including live broadcasts provided by News/Talk 1540 KXEL and ESPN+.