***Article*** Panthers Fall in Three to In-State Rival

[Kris Hauswirth]

Over five thousand fans filed into the McLeod Center Wednesday night to witness the Panthers square off against in-state foe Iowa State. Nostalgic fans would argue that the intensity paled in comparison to the West Gym battles of the past; nonetheless the atmosphere was energetic, to say the least. The UNI/ISU volleyball match-up always promises to be a battle to the end and tonight was no exception.

In the first game, Panther attack errors gave Iowa State an early 10-1 lead. After a Bobbi Petersen timeout, UNI rallied to bring the score back to a manageable 10-14 deficit. Four points would be as close as the score would get for the remainder of the game 1, with the Cyclones winning 30-23.

Game two began much the same way, as ISU took a 4-0 lead on an Erin Boeve (ISU, Sr.) kill and three UNI attack errors. ISU continued to hold a three to six point lead throughout game two until four Cyclone attack errors and an Ashton Stelken (UNI, Jr) kill knotted it, 28-28. With Panther fans on their feet, the teams traded kills and then errors making it 30-30. As “Let’s Go Panthers” echoed off the walls, an Ellie Blankenship (UNI, Fr, Libero) service error and an Amy Vos (ISU, Jr) service ace gave the Cyclones their second victory.

The Panthers came out of the intermission with a purpose and the McLeod began to reek of comeback. Front row dominance by Stelken, Rowen (UNI, Sr.), and Brazda (UNI, Sr.) gave Northern Iowa a 7-3 advantage. The Panthers traded points until attack errors allowed Iowa State to tie the game at twelve all. In the most dramatic seesaw fashion imaginable the score climbed from twelve’s to twenty-two’s. Two attack errors forced a timeout from the ISU coaching staff. Out of the break, ISU locked the score at 24, bringing about a Panther timeout. In the end, Mary Bisenius (ISU, Jr) fought off the aforementioned stench with three consecutive kills that finished off Northern Iowa 30-26.

Laura Rowen led the Panther stat chart with 10 kills, while four other hitters had 7. Ashten Stelken dominated the net with a match-high, career-high 12 blocks. Kaylee Manns and Laura Cady simply refused to allow the Panther hitters to score combining for 44 Iowa State digs, while Lauren Cummings collected 17 kills in the ISU victory. The Panthers move to 3-4 on the season and next see action this weekend in Manhattan, KS at the Kansas State Invitational.

[Newsbreaker]

That sucks.

[UNIAlum95]

Great crowd on hand but the Panthers didn't give us much to cheer about. This is three in a row to ISU and they were clearly better prepared than UNI especially early. It is really disappointing that things like service errors continue to plague this team. It was a huge problem against Kentucky and was a major problem last night. They are in for a long weekend and might be lucky to come back with a win. Let's hope that they can put things together for MVC play.

[panther2317]

UNI historically gets better as the year goes on being strongest in Valley play, the Valley tournament and then into the NCAA's. I know it sucks losing to ISU, but this match better prepares UNI to grind it out in the Valley. Hate the loss last night, but see the big picture for the season.

[Panther-Sheik]

Ugly loss last night. You could see the tension in our players as they started the game...Unfortunately they couldn't ever recover from such a crappy start. I think it is time for UNI to quit playing like the underdog to the "big" schools and go out there with a chip on our shoulders. ISU should have been tense...not us.

[UNIAlum95]

UNI historically gets better as the year goes on being strongest in Valley play, the Valley tournament and then into the NCAA's. I know it sucks losing to ISU, but this match better prepares UNI to grind it out in the Valley. Hate the loss last night, but see the big picture for the season.

This is all well and good. Yes we want and need to win the conference. However, UNI relies on Iowa kids choosing UNI over UI and ISU. We don't recruit very much outside the state. We have to get the best kids coming to UNI. Losing to ISU three years in a row hurts that effort. Despite the goal of winning the MVC, we have to beat our in-state rivals (especially at home) if we are going to have continued success.

Service errors have got to be solved with this team too. I can't count the number of unforced errors on our service side. When the game is on the line, I don't think you should be doing a jump serve from the end of the court (only to serve it into the net) when you can take a safe standard serve to get the ball into play.

[JayJ79]

service errors definitely stood out as a problem in the Kentucky match,
but other than the error at 30-30, I didn't notice them as TOO much of a factor last night.

It was more that the Panthers seemed way too intimidated. ISU often hit through our blocks and had us scrambling way too often. And our attacks just didn't seem to have much oomph much of the time.

Though ISU did look like a pretty good team this year, and I'm betting they're going to turn their record around.

Hopefully we can do the same.

[Durf73]

We did look bad last night and in comparsion to Iowa State we looked slow. They seemed to block so many of our spikes and hit thru our blocks, but most of all we just never seemed ready to react to any thing they were doing. Just seemed to be one step behind the action all night & ISU seemed to get to everything !

We played like we were the little school not the school with tons of volleyball tradition & success.
I also agree with UNIAlum95 we need success over the instate crowd if we expect to have success in the recruiting game instate and this is one sport we should be on equal footing with Iowa & ISU.

Speaking of that did I read the schedule right, we are not playing Iowa this year and if so anyone know why ? I thought I read at one time their coach saw no benefit in it to them so that must mean another we don't want to lose to the smaller instate school so the way to avoid losses is don't play them.

We do alot of instate recruiting so whats the story about the Texas girl on the squad? How did we find a Texas kid to bring to UNI ?

Hopefully we shake this all off before Valley play begins and if the past means anything I'm sure we will !

[JayJ79]

we didn't play Iowa last year, either.

[Durf73]

we didn't play Iowa last year, either.

Your right, so what's with the Hawks, they afraid of the challenge ? Probably !

[JayJ79]

don't know the situation. If it was the Hawks, or if UNI didn't want to play them.

I know at one time, one of the Iowa coaches refused to come play in the West Gym, but I can't remember if that was VB or WBB. Though obviously that's not a factor anymore.

[UNIAlum95]

don't know the situation. If it was the Hawks, or if UNI didn't want to play them.

I know at one time, one of the Iowa coaches refused to come play in the West Gym, but I can't remember if that was VB or WBB. Though obviously that's not a factor anymore.

That was/is Lisa Bluder at Iowa with WBB. Funny how a former Panther seems to be too afraid to play in her old gym. Anyway the Iowa Volleyball thing started a couple years ago when Iowa said the only way they would play us was during one of their tournaments. UNI already had another tourney lined up against top competition (not the low level teams Iowa had lined up) and decided it was better to keep their prior commitment. This year Iowa claimed to not have room to play us again. I imagine it will be a while before we see the Hawks in volleyball again.

[Durf73]

It was Bluder who refused to come to the West Gym so we had to play them in the Dome. I don't think she played in the West Gym, that only started to happen on a regular basis when Tony D used it after the problems with the Dome's roof. He like the success they had there so they stayed. We will see how she likes the McLeod Center, hopefully she will hate it as much as the West Gym.

It's always amazing how Iowa State never backs down from the challenge of playing against UNI, but Iowa seems to run scared. There EGO in Iowa City is just unbelieveable, but it fits a lot of their fans. The Napa Valley comment about the U. of Iowa really seems to hold true for a number of their athletic programs.

I know for a fact that the womens basketball team victory over them at Carver was one that the players & the staff enjoyed as much as any victory in the Tony D era of coaching .