Box Score FAYETTE—In the final match of the regular season schedule, the University of Sioux Falls Volleyball Team (19-9, 14-6 NSIC) fell to Upper Iowa (18-8, 11-9 NSIC), 3-1 (18-25, 21-25, 25-22, 17-25) on Saturday afternoon in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action.

Playoff Picture
With this loss, USF finishes with a 14-6 conference record and solidifies a fifth seed in the NSIC tournament.

Minnesota Duluth (17-3) and Northern State (17-3) are 2018 NSIC Regular Season Co-Champions, with Minnesota Duluth earning the top seed as they defeated Northern State twice during the regular season.

Southwest Minnesota State and Concordia-St. Paul tied in the standings with 16-4 records with SMSU being the third seed due to their strength of schedule and Concordia-St. Paul the fourth seed. The top four seeds will all host next Tuesday, November 6. 

Earning the fifth seed was USF (14-6) with Wayne State being the sixth seed after their upset victory on Saturday afternoon against No. 6 CSP to put them at 13-7. 

There was a three way tie for the final two spots with Minnesota State, Upper Iowa and St. Cloud State all tying at 11-9.  Minnesota State earned the seventh seed via strength of schedule while Upper Iowa earned the eighth seed over St. Cloud State via strength of schedule.

Match Notes
USF finished the match with a .146 hitting percentage with 46 kills on 151 attempts. The USF defense held Upper Iowa to a .200 clip, as well as accumulating six total blocks in the contest.

Senior outside hitter Bria Barfnecht led the USF offense with 11 kills on 35 attacks for a hitting percentage of .200. Barfnecht, who was named first-team All-NSIC this week, also recorded eight digs, three block assists, one block solo, and one assist in the match.

Seniors Makenna Rockeman and Lexi Scott each added nine kills in the effort. Scott posted a team high .538 hitting percentage with nine kills on 16 attempts.

Junior Kasandra Springer led the USF defense with 21 digs in the contest.

Upper Iowa got off to a fast start in the first set gaining a quick 7-1 lead which forced USF to call a timeout. USF rallied back mid-way through the set behind a kill from Abby Feyereisen to decrease the UIU lead to, 13-9. Late in the set, Upper Iowa held a 21-15 lead, but USF won three straight points to bring the score to 21-18. Upper Iowa won the last four points and USF dropped the first set, 25-18.

In the second set, USF posted a team hitting percentage of .258, but struggled to gain momentum against the Peacocks. Upper Iowa gained 18-14 lead after winning four of five points. Upper Iowa would ultimately close out the set, 25-21.

The third set began with both teams looking for momentum until UIU won three straight points to go up 13-10 early in the contest. USF rallied back, winning five of six points later in the match behind a key kill by Yaksich to take a 17-16 lead. USF finished off the set winning three of the last four points for a 25-22 victory.

In the fourth set, USF hit for a .176 hitting percentage and trailed UIU 7-0 early in the match. USF pushed back late in the set, winning four points in a row to cut the UIU lead to 15-13. However, the Peacocks won six of the last eight points in the set to win 25-17 and take the match by a 3-1 count.   

USF will next travel to No.6 Concordia-St. Paul on Tuesday, Nov. 6 for the first round of the NSIC Volleyball Tournament.