Nov. 16, 2004

Box Score

Notre Dame, Ind. - Freshman outside hitter Laura Rowen (Hansell, Iowa) had a career-high 21 kills to lead the University of Northern Iowa to a 3-2 win over Notre Dame Tuesday night in college volleyball. Game scores were 30-28, 28-30, 29-31, 30-22 and 15-13 in favor of the Panthers.

Rowen hit .344 (21-6-44) on the evening and was one of four UNI players in double figures in kills. Junior Rachael Tink (Waterloo, Iowa) posted 20, senior Shari Vermeer (Sioux Center, Iowa) had 17 and sophomore Trista Humpal (New Hampton, Iowa) added a career-best 15 for the Panthers. Humpal also had a career-high 10 blocks to lead UNI in that category.

UNI posted season highs in kills (86), total attacks (220) and assists (81) on the evening. In addition, Panthers senior setter Erin Hirsch (Waterloo, Iowa) posted a career-best 74 assists. That was the most ever for a UNI player in a five-game match, and the third-most assists ever in any match by a UNI player. Shannon Perry holds the school record with 77 assists against SMS on Oct. 11, 1997 in a 3-1 Panthers victory over the Bears.

The Panthers found themselves down 2-1 after Notre Dame pulled out a 31-29 victory in game three. UNI rebounded to win the fourth game, helped by an 8-0 run that allowed them to open a 25-15 advantage that effectively sealed game four to even the match at 2-2. Rowen had three kills and the Irish had four attack errors during that decisive run.

With the match even at 12-all in game five, Stephanie Germann (LeMars, Iowa) and Tink recorded back-to-back kills to give UNI a 14-12 advantage. After a Notre Dame kill pulled the Irish within 14-13, Humpal's kill gave the Panthers the win.

The Panthers won the statistical battle in kills (86-78) and hitting percentage (.218-.178), while Notre Dame recorded 83 digs to UNI's 81, and posted 18.5 team blocks to the Panthers' 15.0. Notre Dame's Lauren Brewster led all players with 27 kills.

With its sixth straight win, UNI improved to 22-8 overall, while Notre Dame fell to 16-8. The Panthers close out the regular season this Saturday (Nov. 20) when they travel to Bradley. First serve is set for 7:00 p.m.