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Women's Volleyball
Panthers Win Five-Game Thriller over Illinois State
Oct. 22, 2004
Cedar Falls, Iowa - Senior Shari Vermeer (Sioux Center, Iowa) blasted a career-high 25 kills to lead the University of Northern Iowa volleyball team to a 3-2 win over Illinois State Friday night at the West Gym. Game scores were 30-28, 30-26, 21-30, 23-30 and 15-11. The five-game victory for the Panthers avenged an earlier five-game loss to the Redbirds on Sept. 25 in Normal, Ill. UNI improved to 15-6 overall, 8-2 in the Missouri Valley Conference and moved into sole possession of second place in the league. Illinois State fell to 14-6 overall, 7-3 in MVC play and dropped into a third-place tie with Southwest Missouri State. UNI controlled the match early, winning the first two games, 30-28 and 30-26. Early on, both teams were firing on all cylinders offensively. Through the first two contests, UNI hit .333 (38-13-75), while Illinois State hit .320 (35-11-75). Rachael Tink (Waterloo, Iowa) had nine of her 16 kills in the first two games, while Laura Rowen (Hansell, Iowa) had seven of her 11 during that span. But Illinois State rallied, winning games three and four. ISU continued its hot hitting, posting a .338 (35-12-68) percentage over the third and fourth games. UNI went cold, hitting just .118 (26-17-76) over the same span. The Redbirds had as much as an eight point lead in each game. Laura Doornbos had 12 of her team-leading 23 kills during this stretch. The Panthers, who have now won a season-best eight matches in a row, sent the raucous crowd of 1,785 home happy with a come-from-behind effort in the fifth game. Illinois State jumped to a 7-4 lead after a Panther hitting error, forcing head coach Bobbi Petersen to take a timeout. UNI responded, going on a 6-0 run to take a 10-7 lead and force Illinois State to take a timeout of its own. Tink had the final two kills during that rally. Illinois State never pulled closer than two points the rest of the way, with UNI claiming a 15-11 victory in the deciding game.
Vermeer, who tied her previous career high of 24 kills two nights ago against Iowa State, hit a whopping .524 (25-3-42) on the night. Trista Humpal (New Hampton, Iowa) hit .533 (9-1-15) for the Panthers, who after struggling offensively in the third and fourth games, responded by hitting .429 (12-3-21) in game five to pull out the win. With tonight's victory, UNI kept intact its streak of never having lost a match at the West Gym after winning the first two games. The last time the Panthers dropped a match after going up 2-0 was on Aug. 30, 1996 against Northern Arizona (15-5, 15-6, 6-15, 13-15 and 11-15) on a neutral court. The Panthers will face Indiana State tomorrow night (Oct. 23) at the West Gym, with first serve set for 7:30 p.m. |
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