The Panthers battled Valparaiso and UIC this weekend on the road, as they started the weekend off against the Valparaiso Beacons. UNI started off slow in the set committing 10 attack errors, while the Beacons had 12 kills in the set. Valpo went on an 8-0 scoring run to tie the set at 19-19 before taking the 25-20 win of set one.
UNI started off much better in the second set, posing a 20-13 lead over the Beacons thanks to a quad group of players securing kills, such as Cassidy Hartman, Kira Fallert, Kacie Rewerts, and Olivia Tjernagel. Reese Booth also assisted to boost the Panthers to a seven-point lead, but it wasn’t enough, as Valpo would come back on a 5-0 run to secure the lead at 20-18. They would then go on to score seven of the final eight points and take a set two 25-22 win.
Northern Iowa finally found their groove going into the third set with Tjernagel and Rewerts solidifying their net play. Having 15 kills on the set, the Panthers quickly got to a 11-4 lead and shut down the Beacon offense. Hartman and Fallert contributed to the electric offense and helped boost UNI to a 25-14 set three win.
In the fourth set, the Panthers would keep the ball rolling, securing an 11-7 set lead, but would have to shut down the Beacons as they forced 10 ties and multiple lead changes throughout the set. The teams traded points and eventually got to a 20-20 tie, but UNI scored five of the last eight points to narrowly get the set win at 25-23 and to force a fifth set against the Beacons.
The Panthers started out in the fifth set like the previous two, but allowed Valpo to slowly creep their way back in, going on a 4-0 run. The teams shared five ties and multiple lead changes before UNI broke the 8-8 tie thanks to a kill by Hartman and continuing on. Northern Iowa finished on a 6-3 run against Valpo to win the set 15-11 and win the match 3-2.
After a five-set thriller, the Panthers continued their momentum against the UIC Flames in another conference showdown. UNI started off with nine kills in the set, with Hartman taking charge for the Panthers with seven kills. Booth had two aces at the serving line to help boost the teams lead, as well as Tjernagel and Fallert contributing seven kills each, as UNI rolled on to a set one win of 25-14.
They continued on their roll going into the second set as they notched 14 kills overall as the Flames struggled to find their groove. Rewerts blocking at the net helped shut down the UIC offense and keep the Panthers rolling. UNI quickly hopped to a double-digit lead and took the set in dominant fashion at 25-11.
Rolling into the third set, the Panthers continued to dominate, tallying another 14 kills After an early tie, UNI found their way to a 20-12 lead over the Flames and scored five of the last nine points in the set to go on to beat UIC 25-16 and take a 3-0 match sweep.
