UNI Panthers Fall to Illinois State, Redbirds Clinches MVC Volleyball Regular Season

The Illinois State Redbirds clinched the No. 1 seed for the 2014 Missouri Valley Conference volleyball tournament with a 3-1 victory over the University of Northern Iowa on Saturday, November 15, 2014 at the McLeod Center.

The Redbirds stayed perfect in MVC play at 15-0 and moved to 21-5 overall. UNI dropped to 18-10 overall and 12-4 in league action.

Illinois State posted a 25-17 win in the first set. The Redbirds led 20-12 before the Panthers rallied with a 5-0 run. However, the Redbirds scored the final five points of the set to take a 1-0 lead. Illinois State hit .271 in the initial set.

Illinois State took the second set, 25-15. The Redbirds opened up a pair of six-point leads (13-7, 15-9) early in the set and did not look back. The Redbirds hit .474 in the set with 19 kills against only one attack error. Illinois State recorded a perfect 100 percent sideout effort in the second set.

UNI used two runs in the third set to get on the board, 25-19. UNI trailed 5-2 but used a 6-1 run to take an 8-6 lead. The Redbirds had an 11-10 lead only to see the Panthers tally a 7-0 run to take a 17-11 advantage. UNI’s lead did not shrink below four the rest of the set. UNI limited Illinois State to .020 hitting percentage in the third set with 11 kills and 10 errors for the Redbirds.

Illinois State was able to finish off the Panthers in the fourth set, 25-16.

UNI will close out the regular season on the road next Friday and Saturday at Bradley and at Loyola. Both matches will begin at 7 p.m.

NOTES: UNI honored senior Eryca Hingtgen (Fairbank, Iowa/Wapsie Valley HS) prior to her final home regular season match … UNI had won 18 consecutive home matches against Illinois State prior to Saturday night's result ... Kayla Haneline led UNI with nine kills and three blocks ... Kinsey Caldwell tallied a double-double with 32 assists and 17 digs ... Amie Held tied for team-high honors in digs with 17 ... Ashlee Sinnott also posted 15 digs.