Panther volleyball dances into postseason play

UNI volleyball vs. No. 7 "RV" Florida State (NCAA First Round)

4:30 p.m. CT | Dec. 2
Minneapolis, Minn. | Maturi Pavilion (5,500)
1540 KXEL - Panther Sports Radio Network (Chris Kleinhans-Schulz: Play-by-Play)
ESPN+
Live Stats

UNI volleyball vs. TBD (NCAA Second Round)

7 p.m. CT | Dec. 3
Minneapolis, Minn. | Maturi Pavilion (5,500)
1540 KXEL - Panther Sports Radio Network (Chris Kleinhans-Schulz: Play-by-Play)
ESPN+
Live Stats

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – December volleyball is on the docket for the UNI Panthers with an upcoming contest against the No. 7 "RV" Florida State Seminoles in Minneapolis at 4:30 p.m. Friday during the opening round of the 2022 NCAA Championship. This match will occur at Maturi Pavilion as hosted by the Minnesota Golden Gophers which are a number two seed and currently ranked eighth in the latest AVCA Division I Women's Coaches Poll.

UNI enters its 24^th NCAA tournament appearance as the automatic qualifier from the Missouri Valley Conference following a 3-2 MVC Championship victory against in-state rival Drake. The Panthers tallied 15 service aces in the triumph to break the MVC's tournament record along with the UNI record for the 25-point rally-scoring era (2008 to present). Among the many UNI highlights, Inga Rotto surpassed 1,000 career kills and scored a championship-point termination that guaranteed the program's 38th league crown including its 18^th in a conference tournament.

November 2022 is a month to remember as the Panthers swept the MVC titles while improving to 25-2 across the last 27 tilts overall and securing the greatest single-season championship comeback in conference history and the best one-year turnaround of any kind in UNI history. Along the way, several individuals picked up significant awards:

• Payton Ahrenstorff – State Farm MVC Good Neighbor Award (UNI, Fall 2022) | MVC Scholar-Athlete Honorable Mention
• Tayler Alden – MVC Setter of the Year | All-MVC First Team | Academic All-District | MVC Scholar-Athlete Honorable Mention
• Kira Fallert – MVC Elite 17 Award | Academic All-District | MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team
• Emily Holterhaus – MVC Scholar-Athlete Honorable Mention
• Baylee Petersen – MVC Scholar-Athlete Honorable Mention
• Sydney Petersen – MVC Championship All-Tournament Team | MVC Libero of the Year | All-MVC First Team
• Inga Rotto – All-MVC First Team | Academic All-District | MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team
• Carly Spies – MVC Championship All-Tournament Team | All-MVC First Team | Academic All-District, MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team
• Olivia Tjernagel – MVC Championship MVP
• Bobbi Petersen – MVC Coach of the Year

PANTHER NOTES
• Prior to UNI's championships this year, no MVC team had ever won the regular season title one year removed from either a losing league record or a finish below sixth place in the conference standings.
• The 2022 Panthers also claim the best single-season turnaround in program history based on win improvement (14 more overall victories, 10 more conference triumphs compared to 2021).
• UNI tops all NCAA Division I programs with 1,752 kills. Also, the Panthers have 192 aces for a program record within the 25-point rally-scoring era (2008 to present).
• The Becker-Petersen family has a grand total of 5,033 digs. Sydney Petersen (1,553) tops mother Bobbi (Becker) Petersen (1,457), twin sister Baylee Petersen (1,060), and aunts Jennifer (Becker) Hansen (533) and Michelle (Becker) Bolte (430).
• Inga Rotto has played in 155 consecutive contests to start her career – believed to be the best individual playing streak in Missouri Valley Conference history – and owns the UNI career records for total matches (155) and total sets (569).
• Emily Holterhaus (121), Tayler Alden (86), and Kira Fallert (64) also have career-opening playing streaks for the Panthers including starts for Fallert in all of her outings. Sydney Petersen has not missed a match in 146 overall chances between UNI and Texas.
• Tayler Alden leads all active Panthers with 34 career double-doubles, and her five career triple-doubles are tied for the the third-best total in program history behind Kara Galer (six) and Bre Payton (17). Four others have at least one double-double at UNI with 21 for Emily Holterhaus, 10 by Kira Fallert, two from Sydney Petersen, and one for Carly Spies.
• Inga Rotto became the 30th Panther in UNI history to register 1,000 career kills within the MVC final versus Drake. She is also two rejections away from 400 career blocks.
• Tayler Alden recorded her 500th kill in the MVC semifinal win at Evansville and passed Bobbie Kreple (2,780) for ninth in career assists versus Drake (2,802).
• Emily Holterhaus replaced Piper Thomas (3,628) for ninth in career attacks during the victory versus Drake (3,654).
• Sydney Petersen reached the 500-dig threshold for the first time ever at Evansville.
• Baylee Petersen moved into 10th in Panther history for career serves (1,523) versus Drake by passing Shari Vermeer (1,519).
• Inga Rotto's .362 attack percentage would rank as the best single-season mark for any Panther with at least 200 kills in UNI history.
• Bobbi Petersen is 11-for-26 (.423) in 2022 challenge attempts. In comparison, Panther opponents are a combined 15-for-39 (.385).

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