CHICAGO – UNI volleyball outserved the UIC Flames with seven serve aces and nine total blocks as the Panthers secured at least a share of the Missouri Valley Conference’s (MVC) regular season title on Friday night in a 3-0 sweep at Credit Union 1 Arena.
Snapping UIC’s five-match winning streak, the Panthers can secure the league’s regular season championship outright with a win in either of their final two matches, or a loss by Drake in any of its final three.
Riding the nation’s fifth-longest active win streak at 17 matches, UNI has now won 33 of its last 34 MVC matches dating back to last season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Flames jumped out to an early advantage on the Panthers through early holes in the UNI defense, building a lead as large as five points with a 90% sideout percentage. Northern Iowa would quick rebound as Layanna Green and Kira Fallert provided a spark to the Panther offense with five kills each, while Emily Holterhaus, Olivia Tjernagel and Kaylissa Arndorfer stepped up at the net with four combined blocks. Grace Mikota would tie the tightly-contested first set up at 20-20 on a service ace before UNI pulled away for a 25-21 win.
Northern Iowa continued to put pressure on the Flames’ in the second set using multiple scoring runs to grab an early lead. The Panthers notched runs of 3-0 and 8-0 to jump ahead by double-digits and didn’t look back as part of a 25-12 victory. Fallert dished up a pair of aces at the service line with Erin Powers recording an ace as well as UNI notched 14 kills on a .538 hitting percentage with zero attack errors.
Shutting down the nation’s team leader in total kills would be a challenge as UNI and UIC wrestled back and forth with eight ties in the third stanza. The Flames would take a two-point lead at 16-14 before Northern Iowa reasserted itself with a 3-0 run thanks to a double-block by Arndorfer and Tjernagel. Fallert would serve up another pair of aces down the stretch as UNI scored seven of the final 11 points of the match to secure a 25-21 third-set win the three-set sweep.
Fallert finished the afternoon with a match-high 13 kills on a .367 hitting percentage while tying a career-best with four aces, plus five digs and a pair of blocks. Holterhaus tallied 11 kills in the Panther win, while Green posted a six-kill outing and Tjernagel a five-kill, five-block performance. Alden recorded 35 assists for the purple and gold, with Arndorfer finishing with three blocks.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
UNI’s victory secures at least a share of its 21st MVC regular season championship, and 11th under head coach Bobbi Petersen.
The Panthers are now 14-3 all-time against the Flames after Friday’s win, and 4-0 against UIC in Chicago.
Northern Iowa has recorded 12 three-set sweeps in league play this year, tied for third-most in a single conference schedule in the Bobbi Petersen era (1997; 2001-present). At 16-0, the Panthers’ other four conference wins this season have come in four sets (UIC, Drake, Murray State, Indiana State).
The Panthers are 16-0 in MVC play for the ninth time in program history (1995, 1998-00, 2009-11, 2022). In each of the prior eight instances, UNI went on to win the MVC’s regular season title, including seven outright championships.
UNI remains undefeated in the first set against MVC opponents this year after a 25-21 opening frame win against the Flames. The Panthers have also clinched the first set in all 22 of their wins this year.
Olivia Tjernagel recorded her 100th block of the season in the third set.
Emily Holterhaus is one kill shy of tying Piper Thomas (2015-18) for fifth on the program’s all-time kills list. She also is four attack attempts away from breaking Karlie Taylor’s (2016-19) school record of 4,599 attempts.
Tayler Alden’s seven digs at UIC pushed her past 900 digs in her career.
UNI is three victories shy of achieving its 1,200th win in program history following it’s victory in Chicago on Friday.
UP NEXT
The Panthers will make the short trip east to northwest Indiana to take on the Valparaiso Beacons in the final road match of the regular season tomorrow night. First serve is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT at the Athletics-Recreation Center with live coverage available on both ESPN+ and the Panther Sports Radio Network.
