The Panthers took over the second place spot in the Missouri Valley Conference over the weekend with 3-1 victories over both Missouri State and Wichita State in Cedar Falls.

On Friday, UNI took on Missouri State, who was second in the MVC before the loss at the hands of the Panthers.

UNI got off to a strong start against the Bears in the first set as Kayla Haneline recorded four of her team-leading 17 kills in the 25-16 win.

The Bears bounced back in the second set to even the match at 1-1. MSU held the lead for the majority of the match, taking a 15-7 midway before committing five errors that allowed UNI to recover. After the timeout, the Bears pulled away and took the set 25-17.

The swing set was a back-and-forth affair as there were four ties but only one lead change. The Panthers trailed from the opening serve until late in the set. Down 22-20, UNI scored five straight points as the Bears committed four consecutive errors to swing the set in favor of the Panthers. Haneline’s set-winning kill gave the Panthers a 25-23 win to put them up 2-1. 

UNI took the lead in the fourth set at 4-3 and never looked back, controlling the set for the rest of the way and securing the match win.

Eryca Hingtgen lead the Panthers to a 3-1 win over Wichita State on Saturday, recording a team-high 20 kills with a .391 attacking percentage. 

UNI found themselves down 17-12 in the opening set before the attacking duo of Haneline and Hingtgen helped the Panthers score 13 of the final 16 points in their comeback 25-20 win. 

Similar to their match against MSU, UNI dropped a back-and-forth second set where there were seven lead changes by a score of 25-22.

The Panthers controlled the remaining two sets despite the close scores, taking the lead in the third set 7-6 and never found themselves down for the remainder of the match. UNI took the third set 25-23 and the fourth 25-22.

UNI will begin their two game road stretch on Friday as they travel to Carbondale, Ill. to take on Southern Illinois at 7 p.m.