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Women's Volleyball
UNI Takes Down #23 Notre Dame
Sept. 9, 2006
Cedar Falls, Iowa - Laura Rowen (Hansell, Iowa) had 19 kills and 12 digs to lead the University of Northern Iowa volleyball team to a 3-2 win over 23rd-ranked Notre Dame tonight at the UNI Invitational. Game scores were 30-28, 20-30, 32-34, 30-20 and 15-11. With the win, UNI improves to 7-4 on the season, while Notre Dame falls to 4-4. Amy Sampson (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) had 14 kills and Ashten Stelken (Manchester, Iowa) came off the bench to add 10 for the Panthers, who won their second five-game match of the day. UNI topped Alabama, 3-2, this afternoon. The fifth and deciding game saw Notre Dame jump out to a 4-0 lead, but UNI rattled off the next six points - culminated by a Patricia Dietz (Tripoli, Iowa) service ace - to take a 6-4 advantage. The match stayed tight the rest of the way, and was tied as late as 11 all. Two straight Notre Dame errors gave UNI a 13-11 lead, and after a Shannon Aschoff (Ankeny, Iowa) kill, Kristin Belzung (Ankeny, Iowa) delivered a service ace that clipped the top of the net and rolled over for the winning point. The Panthers jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead in the first game, with two kills each by Sampson and Danielle Brazda (Omaha, Neb.) during that stretch. The Fighting Irish came back to pull even at 15-all, and the match stayed a one-point affair until UNI scored four straight to open a 24-20 advantage. Notre Dame pulled within one, 29-28, after back-to-back kills, but Brazda had a kill to give UNI the win. Notre Dame controlled game two, claiming leads of 7-3, 14-6 and 20-9 on its way to a 30-20 win. The Irish hit .256 (15-4-43) to just .132 for the Panthers (11-6-29), to even the match at one game each.
The Irish won a back-and-forth third game, 34-32. Notre Dame jumped out to leads of 4-0 and 11-6, but UNI scored eight straight points to take a 14-11 lead. The Panthers had three blocks during that stretch. Notre Dame battled back to take the lead at 17-16, and maintained a slight lead until UNI was able to tie the score at 27-all. Each team fought off two game points from the other, with Notre Dame finally pulling it out on their third attempt. UNI never trailed in the fourth game, roaring to a 14-5 lead and were never threatened in a 30-20 win. The Panthers had five team blocks in the game, while Rowen and Sampson each had four kills. Kansas State and UNI each finished the tournament with identical 2-1 records, but KSU was named tournament champion due to its head-to-head win over the Panthers. Notre Dame and Alabama each finished with 1-2 marks over the two days. UNI travels to Rochester, Minn., on Wednesday, Sept. 13, where they will square off with Minnesota in the annual Border Battle. First serve from the Mayo Civic Center is set for 7:00 p.m. UNI Invitational All-Tournament Team Amy Pauly, Alabama Danielle Herndon, Notre Dame Stephanie May, UNI Laura Rowen, UNI Jenny Jantsch, Kansas State Tiffany Johnson, Kansas State Angie Lastra, Kansas State (MVP) |
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