Crookston, Minn.—Minnesota Crookston volleyball was back at home for their penultimate game inside Lysaker Gymnasium, hosting No. 22 Upper Iowa.
 
Upper Iowa jumped out to quick starts in the first and third sets and a big run in the second set to sweep the Golden Eagles on Friday night (11-25, 19-25, 14-25).
 
Key Players
Minnesota Crookston
Deaira Gresham, 9 kills, 37 total attacks
Lauren Wallace, 5 kills
Sydney Kruisselbrink, 18 assists
 
Key Players
Upper Iowa
Anna Winter, 16 kills, 26 total attacks
Kaitlin Niedert, 15 kills
Carlee Ketchum, 36 assists
 
Set One
Upper Iowa used service aces and Golden Eagle errors to jump out to a quick 6-2 lead. The Golden Eagles would score two in a row to stop the bleeding and make it 6-4 Peacocks through the first 10 points.
 
Playing in her second to last game inside Lysaker Gymnasium, Kaitlin Sikkink (R-Sr., MH, St. Charles, Minn.) got her first kill on the night to make it 9-5 Peacocks.
 
Deaira Gresham had two kills to get the Golden Eagles their 10^th and 11^th points in the set, but it wasn't enough as the Peacocks won the first set 25-11.
 
Set Two
The Golden Eagles started quick in the middle set. Porsha Porath (So., OH, Windom, Minn.) got the Golden Eagles on the board with a kill to make it 1-0.
 
UIU would tie the score up at six, before yet another Gresham kill gave the Golden Eagles their lead back.
 
The maroon and gold would score four in a row, helped by a Katie Lienemann (Jr., DS, Rosemount, Minn.) service ace to take an 11-8 lead, which would force an Upper Iowa timeout.
 
The Golden Eagles would force another timeout from the Peacocks after scoring three straight points to take a 16-10 lead in the second set.
 
Meli Rodriguez (Sr., MH, Sarchi, Costa Rica) collected a kill to make it 17-10. From that point, the Peacocks scored eight straight points to take an 18-17 lead. The run was halted by Lauren Wallace (R-So., OH, Rochester, Minn.) who collected one of her five kills on the night.
 
Upper Iowa would score the final five points of the set to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
Third Set
In the third set, Upper Iowa jumped out to a 9-2 lead, which forced a Golden Eagle timeout.
 
Minnesota Crookston would make the score 11-5 after a kill and a service ace from Gresham.
 
The Golden Eagles would trail 14-6, but got right back into the set after another Gresham kill and two errors from the Peacocks.
 
Minnesota Crookston would try to claw their way back into the set, but the Peacocks proved to be too strong and won the third set, 25-14 and the match, three sets to none.
 
Minnesota Crookston is back in action at home for one final time in the 2019 season tomorrow afternoon as they host Winona State at 3 p.m., as the program celebrated five seniors on senior day.