FAYETTE, IOWA – Despite hitting .300 as a team, the University of Sioux Falls (11-7, 6-4 NSIC) had a four-match winning streak come to an end in dropping a closely contest road match to Upper Iowa (14-5, 7-3 NSIC), 3-0 (22-25, 23-25, 23-25) on Friday night in NSIC action.
The Cougars lost, 3-0, but by a combined seven points. In two of the final three sets USF and Upper Iowa was tied at 22-22 before the Peacocks closed out with set wins.
Despite the setback, senior outside hitter
Averey Yaksich became the sixth place in school history to reach 800 career kills. With 15 kills on 39 attacks and a .333 hitting mark, the league's top hitter in kills (292) and kills per set (4.40), reached the career mark. With the 15 kills, Yaksich now has 39 double-digit kill performances in her career with her 16
th double-double as she had a match-high 13 digs.
USF had won 12-of-14 sets coming in over the previous four matches but tonight struggled through service errors despite winning the hitting percentage category. The Cougars had 42 kills to 40 for UIU and outhit the home-standing Peacocks, .300-to-238 but had 14 service errors across three sets while UIU had six. The Peacocks held a 7-to-4 edge in service aces. USF finished with 41 digs, five total team blocks and 41 assists.
"We struggled tonight with serving and passing. Despite a great offensive effort, we just couldn't get in-system enough to win such close sets," said USF Head Coach
Dan Mathews. "We missed an uncharacteristic amount of serves, and Upper Iowa brought solid pressure from the serving line," added Mathews, whose team plays at No. 8 Winona State on Saturday at 4 pm. ""We're excited about playing at Winona State tomorrow. The best thing about the NSIC is playing excellent teams night after night, and this weekend is no exception," noted Mathews.
Aside from Yaksich, the Cougars had nine kills from sophomore
Nicole Jacobson, who had six digs and a block assist. Freshman middle blocker
Jordan Kuper hit a team-high .375 with eight kills on 16 attacks with four block assists. Fellow freshman middle
Jordyn Hamm added five kills and a .333 hitting mark. Senior setter
Krista Goerger led USF with 39 assists and now has 3,077 in her career. She added a service ace for the 111
th of her career, which is also a USF school record.
In the opening set, USF had a 14-12 kill advantage and a .278-to-.242 hitting advantage but was hurt by its service game in falling, 25-22.
In set two, USF fell, 25-23, after being tied at 22. The Cougars had a .324 hitting mark with 16 kills on 34 attacks and just five errors. UIU hit just .231 with 14 kills on 39 attacks but came up with the big plays on crucial points late.
In the final set, USF again had a hitting advantage with a .300-to-.242 margin. USF had 12 kills on 30 attacks with just three errors as they rallied from a 12-7 deficit to draw even at 16. Then, USF had a 5-3 run to take a 21-19 lead before UIU closed with a 6-2 run to win, 25-23. The Peacocks, which had 11 kills from Maggie Streightiff and 10 from Kaitlin Niedert, had 14 kills on 33 attacks.
