University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
13-7,8-0MVC
Illinois State
11-10,6-2MVC
UNI volleyball stays unbeaten in Valley play with four set win over Redbirds
10/18/2024 8:38:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Panthers win final three sets after first set loss at Illinois State to move to 8-0 in MVC action. UNI visits Bradley on Saturday in Peoria.
NORMAL, Ill. --- Four Panthers posted 11 or more kills on Friday night as UNI volleyball remained unbeaten in Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) play in a hotly contested 3-1 victory against the Illinois State Redbirds at CEFCU Arena.
Posting a .321 team hitting percentage with 64 combined terminations, Northern Iowa's resilient back row defense and nine service aces helped the Panthers improve to 8-0 in league play for the third consecutive season, and extend its MVC regular season winning streak to 26 matches.
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HOW IT HAPPENED
The Panthers faced a tough test from the Redbirds right out the gate as Illinois State quickly grabbed the lead and led for a large portion of the opening set. UNI, which notched 16 team kills on .250 hitting, would climb back and take its first lead at 12-11 as part of a 4-0 scoring run, but would have to continue to battle a resilient opposing defense. Kaitlyn Sellner racked up consecutive aces for the Panthers and would ultimately force bonus ball, but Illinois State would prevail, scoring an ace on set point to take the opening frame by a score of 26-24.
UNI stormed back in the second stanza with a 6-1 run to open the set, taking advantage of a number of Redbird net violations. With Kacie Rewerts and Kira Fallert leading the purple and gold up from in offense and defense, Northern Iowa used a 7-0 run to extend its lead to 19-9 and eventually even the match at one set a piece with a 25-17 set win, holding off a late Illinois State push and finishing the frame with 17 team kills and a .353 hitting percentage.
Illinois State gave UNI an early challenge in the third set as the Redbird blocking effort gave the Panthers an early test. Northern Iowa would pick up steam on the first of five aces in the frame with Grace Mikota giving UNI the lead at 11-10, helping set up a 9-0 Panther run that also included three aces from Erin Powers. Recording 14 team kills on .346 hitting, UNI cruised to a 25-17 set win and 2-1 lead in the match.
The fourth set featured ten ties and five lead changes with the Redbirds grabbing an early 3-0 advantage before the Panthers crawled back in a back-and-forth frame. With Illinois State leading 15-14 at the media timeout, a kill by Lily Dykstra and ace by Taryn Rice would give UNI the lead for good as the Panthers posted 17 kills on .355 hitting and scored six of the final nine points, narrowly edging out the Redbirds 25-21 in the fourth to complete the four-set victory.
Fallert tied her season-high with 21 terminations along with eight digs and a season-best four blocks, while Hartman tallied 12 kills and eight digs. Olivia Tjernagel posted 11 kills and four blocks as Rewerts posted an 11 kill, five block performance. Dykstra matched her season-high with eight kills, with Sydney Golden and Reese Booth combining for 52 assists, including 32 from Golden and 20 from Booth. Powers set a new season-best with four aces, along with a team-high 12 digs.
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ADDITIONAL NOTES
- UNI has won its last five matches against Illinois State, improving to 60-30 all-time against the Redbirds, and 39-18 against ISU under head coach Bobbi Petersen.
- Northern Iowa has now started 8-0 in MVC play in each of the last three seasons, including five of the last eight years.Â
- The Panthers have now won 26 consecutive regular season MVC matches dating back to last season's undefeated conference schedule, the fourth-longest league winning streak in team history. UNI has also won 30 in a row overall against MVC opponents in the regular season and postseason.Â
- Head coach Bobbi Petersen is now just four wins shy of her 600th career victory, a milestone 57 other coaches have reached at the Division I women's level.
- Eight matches into league play, the Panthers have dropped only four sets (24-4), including two to Valparaiso and one each to Murray State and Illinois State.
- UNI's nine service aces on Friday tied a season-high, matched only this year by nine aces against Rice back in September
- Kira Fallert moved up to 11th on UNI's all-time kills list with 1,281, passing UNI Hall of Famer and current Panther assistant coach Kim (McCaffery) Davis (1997-99, 2001). She is also tenth in school history with 3,636 career attacks.
- Fallert has recorded double-digit kill figures in 13 matches this season, including seven of UNI's previous eight contests. Friday night was also Fallert's third match of 20+ terminations this season.
- Defensive specialist/libero Erin Powers is now 28 digs shy of 2,000 in her collegiate career. Notching 874 digs as a Panther, Powers recorded 1,090 digs during her first two collegiate seasons at UAB (2021-22).
- Setter Sydney Golden surpassed 500 career assists in Friday's win.
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UP NEXT
The Panthers return to action on Saturday as they take on the Bradley Braves in Peoria at Renaissance Coliseum at 5 p.m. CT. Live coverage of the match can exclusively be found on the Panther Sports Radio Network.
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UNI volleyball action can be followed all season long on social media on Facebook (UNI Volleyball), X (@UNIVolleyball) and on Instagram (@univolleyball). The full 2024 schedule and roster, along with the latest Panther news and information can be found online at UNIpanthers.com.
