University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
23-6,17-0MVC
Valparaiso
18-12,10-7MVC
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UNI | 13 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
| Valparaiso | 25 | 17 | 23 | 14 | 1 |
UNI volleyball clinches outright MVC title with win at Valparaiso
11/11/2023 8:49:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Panther lock up top-seed for MVC Tournament with win over Beacons. UNI hosts Drake in regular season finale next Wednesday.
VALPARAISO, Ind. --- UNI volleyball rebounded from a stunning first-set loss and turned the tables for a 3-1 win on Saturday night at the Athletics-Recreation Center against the Valparaiso Beacons in the final road match of the regular season.
The Panther secured the program's 21st Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) regular season crown and 11th in the Bobbi Petersen era after guaranteeing at least a share of a title following UNI's win at UIC on Friday. Northern Iowa, who has won 18 consecutive matches and started MVC play 17-0 in each of the last two years, has come out victorious in 34 of its last 35 conference outings.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Valparaiso caught the Panthers off guard with an impressive opening set with a commanding 13-1 run and 11 team kills on a .290 hitting percentage. UNI would struggle with nine attack errors in the first frame with several attacks falling just out of bound as the Panthers were held to .000 hitting. Northern Iowa was able to build slight momentum with a 3-0 run of its own but could not overcome the Beacons' offensive firepower in a 25-13 loss.
The Panthers would not stay down for long as the UNI offense came to life in the second stanza with 12 team terminations on .250 hitting. After four early ties and an early 8-5 deficit, Northern Iowa doubled up Valparaiso with a 16-8 run and never looked back as Olivia Tjernagel, Tayler Alden and Kaylissa Arndorfer paced the UNI offense. Layanna Green would step up in UNI's improved net defense as the Panthers pulled away to even the match with a 25-17 second set win.
Saturday's fourth set would go down to the wire as both UNI and Valparaiso jockeyed for momentum and the opportunity to take a 2-1 match lead. The Beacons would take a 20-17 lead before the Panthers stormed back with a 4-0 run thanks to a service ace by Erin Powers to give the purple and gold a 21-20 lead. Trading points down the stretch Northern Iowa was able to secure the final two points of the set on kills by Arndorfer and Cassidy Hartman for the 25-23 victory.
UNI would have to overcome another challenge early from the Beacons in the fourth set, but soon saw its offense cruise down the stretch. Notching 14 team kills on .303 hitting, the Panthers broke a 9-9 tie on a Tjernagel termination and dominated down the stretch, scoring 16 of the final 21 points of the set. The Panthers forced seven attack errors by Valparaiso and help the home squad to just .028 hitting en route to a 25-14 win to take the match in four sets.
Tjernagel finished the night with a match-high 12 terminations of 31 attacks and a .355 hitting percentage, while Arndorfer notched nine kills and tied a season-high with 3 block assists. Holterhaus and Green both tallied eight terminations with Green also recording five block assists, as Alden posted a 40 assist, six-kill and three block match. Powers led the Panthers with 17 digs and three service aces, while Grace Mikota notched a career-high 15 digs.
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ADDITIONAL NOTES
- The Panthers' secured their 21st MVC regular season championship on Friday night, the 11th under Bobbi Petersen and tenth outright under her leadership. UNI is the MVC's first repeat regular season champion since Missouri State went back-to-back in 2015 and 2016.
- UNI improves to 18-4 all-time against the Beacons, and is now 5-3 against Valparaiso playing in northwest Indiana.
- Valparaiso is the first team in MVC play to win a first set against the Panthers all season.
- Northern Iowa's four-set win was its fifth time being taken beyond three sets in conference play this year. All of UNI's other 12 MVC victories have come in three-set sweeps
- The Panthers are 17-0 in MVC play for the ninth time in program history (1995, 1998-00, 2009-11, 2022). In each of the prior eight instances, UNI went on to win the MVC's regular season title, including seven outright championships.
- Emily Holterhaus set UNI's all-time record for career attack attempts with 4,624, passing Karlie Taylor's record of 4,599. She also moved into fifth in career kills in program history with her 1,579th termination, passing Piper Thomas.
- UNI is now just two victories shy of achieving its 1,200th win in program history.
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UP NEXT
UNI will wrap up the regular season on Wednesday, Nov. 15 as it hosts in-state rival Drake inside the McLeod Center in search of an undefeated conference season. First serve is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT with live coverage available on both ESPN+ and the Panther Sports Radio Network.
