The Panthers started off the tournament strong against the Illinois State Redbirds after battling back after a strong Redbird start. Northern Iowa forced eight attack errors and went on to score 18 of the last 26 points, including the last eight, to secure the 25-13 set one win. Kacie Rewerts led the team with five kills, plus a pair of blocks. Cassidy Hartman also added four kills, while Sydney Golden added two service aces.
Illinois State started out the second set strong going back and forth with Northern Iowa. UNI’s offense began to take charge and never looked back, as they took the first lead of the set 18-17 as they closed out on an 8-2 run to push them to a 25-19 set two win. The Panthers came out swinging in the third set, starting with a 7-2 run, as they marched onto 22-7 lead, but the Redbirds battled back to score nine unanswered to get it down to single digits. The purple and gold were able to complete the 3-0 run to close out the set and win 25-16. They secured the three-set sweep to advance to the finals.
UNI matched up with the UIC Flames in the championship match of the MVC Tournament. Both teams went back and forth in the beginning of the first set, sharing ties and lead changes before the Panthers took a 20-18 set lead thanks to an ace by Grace Mikota. The Flames came back to tie at 20-20, but Hartman had five kills followed by four each from Rewerts and Kaitlyn Sellner as the purple and gold outlasted UIC to win 25-22.
Northern Iowa came out strong in the second set from start to finish. While the Flames cut the lead to 14-13 of the Panthers, UNI was able to go on a 5-0 run that featured a pair of aces thanks to Kira Fallert and two kills by Lily Dykstra as well as a block from Dykstra and Sellner to boost the team to a 25-20 win and 2-0 set lead.
UIC came out strong at the start of the third set, grabbing an early lead with a strong offense that the Panthers were unable to put a stop to. UNI cut the Flames lead down to three at 15-12 thanks to an ace by Reese Booth, but it was not enough as UIC dominated down the stretch and clinched the third set 25-16 to make it a 2-1 score.
The Flames came out with another early lead in the fourth set before the Panthers stormed back from being down 15-23. UNI went on a 9-1 run against UIC to make the set 24-24 thanks to an ace from Mikota, kills from Fallert and Tjernagel, as well as key blocks from Tjernagel and Sellner. Northern Iowa’s grit and fight late in the third set led them to a 27-25 set four win and 3-1 match win to help them to a third straight MVC Title.
Rewerts was named tournament MVP, while Fallert and Tjernagal also earned all-tournament honors. Additionally, Fallert won the MVC Elite 18 award, presented to the student-athlete with the highest GPA in the championship match
