UNI volleyball to face Evansville, Indiana State during homecoming weekend

UNI volleyball (14-7 / 9-0 MVC) vs. Evansville (4-17 / 3-6 MVC)

6 p.m. CT | Oct. 25, 2024
McLeod Center
Cedar Falls, Iowa
ESPN+
Panther Sports Radio Network (Chris Kleinhans-Schulz: Play-by-Play)
LIVE STATS

UNI volleyball (14-7 / 9-0 MVC) vs. Indiana State (4-17 / 1-8 MVC)

6 p.m. CT | Oct. 26, 2024
McLeod Center
Cedar Falls, Iowa
Panther Sports Radio Network (Chris Kleinhans-Schulz: Play-by-Play)
LIVE STATS

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- Homecoming weekend has arrived for the UNI volleyball team, who will welcome in the Evansville Purple Aces and Indiana State Sycamores to the McLeod Center this weekend in Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) action.

Both weekend matches are slated to begin at 6 p.m. CT. Due to home football broadcasting, only Friday's match against Evansville will be broadcast on ESPN+. Both contests will be carried live on the Panther Sports Radio Network with Chris Kleinhans-Schulz on the call.

Tickets can be purchased online through the UNI Ticket Office or by calling 319-273-4849.

As part of homecoming weekend, Panther fans can also use their home football tickets for admission into Saturday's home match with Indiana State.

Fans are encouraged to wear purple to both matches as the Panthers celebrate their 50th anniversary reunion between the second and third sets on both nights.

Northern Iowa returns home after a pair of road wins last weekend at Illinois State and Bradley, led by a 21-kill performance by Kira Fallert against the Redbirds, along with eight digs and four blocks. In UNI's 3-0 win against the Braves, Fallert also led the purple and gold with 16 kills, while Cassidy Hartman notched her fifth career double-double with 14 kills and 13 digs.

UNI extended its regular season MVC winning streak to 27 matches last weekend on the road, the fourth-longest streak in program history. The Panthers have also won 31 straight matches overall against MVC challengers in both regular season and postseason play.

Fallert leads the UNI offense with 286 total kills through 21 matches, with Hartman close behind with 261 terminations. Fallert can surpass 1,300 career terminations with three more kills this weekend, plus crack the program's top-ten all-time list. Erin Powers's 23 service aces leads the way for the Panthers while her 345 total digs this year are sixth-most in the MVC this year. Powers is also 13 digs shy of 2,000 digs in her career.

Setters Sydney Golden and Reese Booth have split time on the court with the veteran Golden averaging 6.3 assists per set, with Booth notching 4.7 assists per frame, while Kacie Rewerts is second in the MVC with 1.3 blocks per set. Rewerts, who is third in MVC history with 558 career block assists, is the NCAA's active career leader in total blocks (632) across all divisions and is fourth in Division I with 1.34 blocks per set in her career.

SCOUTING EVANSVILLE
The Purple Aces rounded out the first half of league play with a 3-0 loss at Indiana State on Monday night. Evansville has now dropped seven of its last eight conference matches.

Evansville was picked ninth in this year's MVC preseason poll with opposite Giulia Cardona, the reigning MVC Player of the Year named preseason all-conference.

Despite boasting the league's top attacker, Evansville ranks in the bottom-four in every major statistical category minus team service aces, where the Aces rank seventh (106). Cardona leads the nation in six categories, including attacks per set (15.2), kills per set (5.4), points (484), points per set (6.1), total attacks (1,208) and total kills (429).

SCOUTING INDIANA STATE
Indiana State visits Iowa after sweeping Evansville at the Hulman Center on Monday for its first MVC win of the season. The Sycamores will visit Drake on Friday before making the trip north to Cedar Falls.

Indiana State was picked 12th in this year's MVC preseason poll. ISU ranks third in the league with 1.5 aces per set, as well as fourth in total aces (120). Emma Kaelin is averaging three kills and 10.4 attacks per set. Ella Scott is also top-six in the league with 70 total blocks.

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.

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