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Sept. 9, 2005

Box Score

Milwaukee, Wis. - Sophomore outside hitter Laura Rowen (Hansell, Iowa) had 20 kills to help lead the University of Northern Iowa volleyball team to a 3-2 win over Wisconsin-Milwaukee, tonight at the UWM Panther Invitational. Game scores were 27-30, 30-28, 30-20, 26-30 and 15-9.

A season-high five UNI players reached double-figures in kills. In addition to Rowen, Danielle Brazda (Omaha, Neb.) had 16, Ashten Stelken (Manchester, Iowa) and Stephanie Germann (LeMars, Iowa) each had 11, and Stephanie May (Dubuque, Iowa) added 10. UNI sophomore setter Kristin Belzung (Ankeny, Iowa) had a career-high 62 assists.

The first game saw UW-Milwaukee jump to an early 11-6 lead, but UNI responded and eventually took a 15-14 advantage. UNI maintained its lead until UWM pulled even at 25-all. After a quick UNI spurt gave it a 27-25 edge, UW-Milwaukee called timeout, and proceeded to score the last five points of the first game to pull out a 30-27 win.

It was UNI's turn for a late-game rally to win game two, and even the match at one game apiece. UW-Milwaukee led, 28-27, before UNI scored three straight to win, 30-28. The Panthers hit a sizzling .341 (20-5-44) in game two, with Brazda and Rowen each having five kills.

UNI used a 6-1 run early in game three to build a 13-7 advantage, with the Panthers contributing three of their six blocks in the game during that run. After UW-Milwaukee pulled within 21-18, UNI head coach Bobbi Petersen called a timeout, and her team responded by winning nine of the next 11 points to win the game, 30-20. UNI's offense was clicking in the third game even more than the second, as it hit .429 (13-1-28), while holding UWM to just .024 (14-13-42).

UW-Milwaukee trailed in game four, 23-20, but used a 7-0 run to take a 27-23 advantage en route to a 30-26 win, forcing game five. UNI had five blocks in the fourth game, while May had five kills.

UNI jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the fifth and deciding game, with three kills by Rowen during the run, and was helped by three UWM hitting errors during the same stretch. UNI hit .333 in the fifth game (6-2-12), while UWM hit .000 (6-6-12).

With the win, UNI improves to 5-2, while UW-Milwaukee falls to 4-3. UNI plays two more matches tomorrow at the UWM Invitational, facing Alabama at 11:00 a.m. and Toledo at 4:30 p.m.