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University of Northern Iowa
15-6,9-0MVC
Drake
14-7,7-2MVC
UNI volleyball secures wild four-set win at Drake
10/16/2023 9:20:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Panthers grab two game lead on first-place in the MVC standings with in-state conference win. UNI visits Belmont, Murray State this weekend.
DES MOINES, Iowa --- UNI volleyball fought tooth and nail for every point and emerged on the winning side of competition for a tenth straight match as the Panthers grabbed their ninth Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) win of the season in a thrilling 3-1 victory over the Drake Bulldogs on Monday night at the Knapp Center.
In one of the most anticipated matches of the conference schedule, UNI now holds a two-match lead on the second-place Bulldogs at the midway point of the conference schedule. Monday's matchup marked the first meeting between the programs since last season's MVC Tournament Championship, where the Panthers rallied from down 2-1 to defeat Drake.
HOW IT HAPPENED
UNI struggled to get into an offensive rhythm early in the first set as Drake took a 4-0 lead early. The Panthers would gradually chip away at the Bulldog lead as the purple and gold notched five blocks at the net and took advantage of four Drake service errors. Trailing by five points at 20-15, the Panthers scored six of the next seven points, featuring a service ace by Erin Powers to prompt a Bulldog timeout. UNI would finish strong out of the called timeout, scoring the final six points as part of 9-0 closing run to take the opening frame by a score of 25-21.
The Panthers took an early lead and never relinquished control of the second set, jumping out to a 5-1 lead as UNI carried its offensive momentum over from its late first frame rally. Hitting .326 as a team, the Panthers stifled Drake's attempts to get into a rhythm with its attack, holding the Bulldogs to just seven kills with five attacking errors and a .057 hitting percentage. While Drake was able to pull within one point a 10-9, UNI gradually pulled away thanks to 18 team kills and impressive performances by Tayler Alden, as well as Emily Holterhaus and Laynna Green on the attack and the block to take second stanza, 25-19.
Set three would test both teams in an epic back-and-forth frame featuring 14 ties throughout. Despite Drake continuing to struggle at the service line with four errors, the Bulldogs racked up 17 terminations on .256 hitting, led by Macy Daufeldt and Haley Bush on the attack. Green and Holterhaus continued to pace the Panther offense, which totaled 13 kills on .175 hitting. Tied at 21-21, the Bulldogs would close on a 4-2 run to take a 25-23 win and stave off a sweep.
After a slow start offensively through the first three sets, Kira Fallert gave the Panthers a spark early in the fourth frame with three early terminations as UNI and Drake wrestled back-and-forth once more. In a set that featured six lead changes and 11 ties, the Panthers totalled 19 kills with just one attack error as Drake continued its attack led by Daufeldt, Bush and Ashlynn Kuhn. Megan Witte would tie the set up at 16-16 on her first kill of the night and the Panthers wouldn't look back as terminations by Olivia Tjernagel, Holterhaus and Green and a dominant net defense held off a late Bulldog rally to give UNI the 25-22 win and the match.
Green finished the night setting new career-high marks in kills (16), attack attempts (26) and blocks (7) in the Panther victory, while Holterhaus notched 15 terminations with a career-best six blocks. Alden meanwhile recorded her sixth career triple-double with a 12-kill, 43 assist and 12-dig performance. Tjernagel tallied nine kills in the win with three blocks, as Kira Fallert recorded five kills and a team-high 16 digs defensively. Erin Powers recorded 15 digs for the Panthers.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
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UNI improves to 89-16-2 all-time against Drake. The Panthers-Bulldogs series is the longest running volleyball series at 107 matches in UNI history.
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Monday's win marks the 13th time the Panthers have begun the Gateway/MVC schedule 9-0 (1987, 1990, 1995, 1998-01, 2009-11, 2018, 2022). In all 12 previous instances, UNI has gone on to win at least a share of the MVC's regular season title, including 11 outright championships.
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The Panthers have won the first set in all nine of their MVC matches this season. UNI is 15-6 overall on the season when winning the first set.
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Monday's match marked just the second time UNI has played four sets or more in a conference match this year. UIC took the Panthers to four sets on Sept. 30.
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UNI allowed just seven kills by Drake in the second set, the fourth time the Panthers have allowed seven terminations or fewer in MVC competition this season.
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The Panthers' 12 total blocks match their season-high, set on Oct. 7 at Indiana State.
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Tayler Alden's triple-double on Monday was the 54th in program history in 1,343 matches played all-time at UNI. Alden is now tied with Kara Galer (1993-96) for the second-most career triple-doubles in Panther history with six, trailing all-time leader Bre Payton (2007-11) with 17.
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Emily Holterhaus is just 26 kills away from becoming the sixth Panther in school history to reach 1,500 career terminations. She also is two blocks away from 250 in her career.
UP NEXT
UNI returns to action this weekend as the Panthers travel south to face off against Belmont on Friday night at 6 p.m. CT in Nashville. The Panthers will also take on Murray State on Saturday at 5 p.m. CT. Coverage of both matches can be found on ESPN+ and the Panther Sports Radio Network.
