After coming off back-to-back conference championship seasons, the UNI volleyball team is back in action. They ended last season losing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Missouri. This season, they will be without All-American Karli Taylor, setter Racheal Koop and their labaro Abbi Staack. Losing those three seniors will mean some major holes to fill for this season.

The Panther women opened their season on the road at Drake.  They wound up dropping the season opener 4-1 with set scores of 26-24, 25-20, 25-15 and 25-19. The young Panther squad has no seniors on the roster and started two freshmen in this game.

Saturday’s matchup pitted the Panthers against Nebraska-Omaha. After a decisive 25-18 victory in the opening set, Northern Iowa wound up dropping the next three set en route to a 3-1 defeat. The final set scores between the Panthers and Mavericks were 25-18, 21-25, 16-25 and 23-25. Sophomore Emily Holterhaus lead the way with 13 kills for UNI.

Staying in the city of Omaha but facing a different opponent, the Panthers matched up against Creighton University on Sunday. The talented Blue Jays team proved to be too much for the Panthers, as they cruised to a 3-0 victory in straight sets. Holterhaus again led UNI in kills with nine, followed by Yagmur Cinel with seven and Kaylissa Arndorfer with six.

The Panther women will return to the McLeod Center on Friday, Jan. 29 for their home opener against Drake University.