Panthers battled hard against ranked opponents at Cardinal Classic over the weekend
The Panthers started off the weekend against the No. 9 ranked Creighton Bluejays. The Bluejays offense proved to be too much for UNI in the first set, as they clocked 15 kills, while the Panther had nine attack errors. UNI battled as much as they could, but Creighton was too much for them as they took the first set 25-15.
In the second set, the Panthers found their groove a little bit more and kept the set very back-and-forth with 11 ties throughout. UNI was able to keep their way in set, with Kira Fallert assisting and the offense being more aggressive. The Panthers had a lead midway through the set at 12-11 and kept up with the Bluejays the rest of the way, Creighton was able to sneak out of this set with a win of 25-20.
UNI started out strong in the third set with a 4-1 lead, but Creighton found their way quick and boosted to an 11-4 lead. The Panthers were able to cut the lead to two midway through the set, but due to nine attack errors and struggles to slow down the Bluejays offense, UNI dropped the third set 25-20 to the Bluejays.
The Panthers would then go on to play No. 4 Louisville. UNI would make Louisville work for their win in the first set, as posed a team 17 kills in the match. Going on a 5-0 lead they would cut the Cardinals lead to just one. They would go point-for-point with Louisville and down to the wire, but the Cardinals pulled away in a 25-23 win. Cassidy Hartman would have five kills, while Lily Dykstra and Olivia Tjernagel would bookend with four a piece.
UNI would come out on fire in the second set and keep a lead for most of it thanks to Tjernagel and Kacie Rewerts. Though the Cardinals were slow to start, they quickly found their rhythm as the Panthers had 10 attack errors and four service errors in the set, but forced Louisville into extra points in their 27-25 loss to the Cardinals.
The Panthers would hang in there in the beginning of the third set, but not before the Cardinals ran themselves a pair of 4-0 and 6-0 runs. Louisville scored nine of the last 10 points of the set to quickly take over and beat the Panthers 25-15 and take the match.
To close out the weekend, the Panthers faced off against Rice. UNI was dominant as they recorded six aces and 14 kills in the first set. With two separate 5-0 runs, the Panthers were able to keep their distance and cruise past Rice 25-12 thanks to four kills from Fallert and three from Tjernagel and Kaitlyn Sellner.
The second set would start out opposite of the first and UNI and Rice went back-and-forth and were tied at 8-8 before the Panthers would go on a whopping 17-5 run. Hartman, Tjernagel and Fallert helped to carry the Panthers past a struggling Owl’s offense and cruise past them in a 25-13 set two win.
Rice would put up a battle against the panthers in the third set early on, but it would be no match for UNI as they notched 12 kills on 10 attack errors from Rice. Fallert had double-digit kills in the set along with some service aces from Reese Booth to help boost the Panthers to a 25-18 set win and 3-0 match win to close out the weekend.
