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Women's Volleyball
Panthers Have Block Party Leads on Way to Tournament Title
Sept. 18, 2004
Cedar Falls, Iowa - Tournament Most Valuable Player Rachael Tink (Waterloo, Iowa) had nine kills, seven digs and seven blocks to lead the University of Northern Iowa volleyball team to a 3-0 win over South Florida tonight at the West Gym. Game scores against the Bulls were 30-22, 30-25, 30-9. With the win, UNI claims the Panther Invitational championship with a 3-0 record. But the story for the night was UNI's blocking. The Panthers racked up 20.0 team blocks in just three games - well above their average of 3.47 blocks per game, which ranks 25th nationally. UNI had seven blocks in each of the first and second games and six in the third. Individually, Danielle Brazda (Omaha, Neb.) had 12 blocks to lead the way for the Panthers. UNI never trailed the entire night, jumping out to early leads in each game. The Bulls rallied in each of the first two games to pull within one point at the midpoint of each contest, but UNI answered with rallies of its own each time. UNI hit .275 for the match (38-13-91), while holding South Florida to -.071 hitting (28-36-112). In addition to Tink, UNI's Shari Vermeer (Sioux Center, Iowa) and Erin Hirsch (Waterloo, Iowa) were also named to the all-tournament team. UNI (6-4) has now won three matches in a row, and posted its 74th straight win at the West Gym with the victory over the Bulls. The loss drops South Florida to 2-6 on the season. In other Panther Invitational matches from earlier today, Bradley defeated South Florida, 3-1 (30-25, 24-30, 30-27, 30-25); UNI defeated Northern Illinois, 3-0 (30-24, 30-28, 30-20); and Bradley defeated Northern Illinois, 3-1 (30-26, 18-30, 30-26, 30-27). PANTHER INVITATIONAL ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM Kristina Fabris, South Florida Kate McCullagh, Northern Illinois Ashley Vance, Bradley Lindsay Stalzer, Bradley Shari Vermeer, UNI Erin Hirsch, UNI
MVP -- Rachael Tink, UNI
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