Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year Kendra Haselhorst had 16 kills, but Northern Iowa scored the first 11 points of the match on the way to a 15-2, 15-5, 15-10 win over Illinois State in the title match of the 2000 State Farm-Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at Hulman Center.
The Panthers, 28-4, won their 23rd straight match while out-hitting the Redbirds .337 to .107 as Kim McCaffrey led UNI with 18 kills and 13 digs. She got help from Jeni Schneckloth with 12 kills. UNIs third straight league tournament championship assures the Panthers eighth NCAA Tournament appearance when the 64-team bracket is announced Sunday evening.
Haselhorst, named the Valley Player of the Year earlier in the day, Becky Weber combined for 24 kills, but the rest of the ISU hitters had just 9 kills with 15 errors.
Iradge Ahrabi-Fard, the Northern Iowa head coach, was proud of his teams effort.
Our girls got motivated and when they are prepared and motivated they can play with anybody in the nation, said Ahrabi-Fard, who was named Valley Coach of the Year earlier in the day. We dictated the tempo on offense and on defense with serving and passing.
Illinois State, 19-10, dropped its ninth straight match to the Panthers, who won their third straight Valley Tournament. The Redbirds have played in all 19 Valley tournaments and made it to the finals for the 12th time, but failed to win their 10th tournament.
The Panthers established their tempo in game one by out-hitting the Birds .385 to .000, taking advantage of 12 ISU hitting errors. Redbird coach Sharon Dingman used 11 players in the first game trying to find a combination to stem the tide against UNI.
Haselhorst said UNI put the Birds back on their heels.
We spent the first game trying to adjust to what they were doing instead of trying to do what we were doing, said Haselhorst.
Weber had an ace, a block and a kill to give ISU a 3-2 lead in game two, but the Panthers went on a 10-1 run to lead 12-4.
UNI opened a 10-4 lead in game three before the Birds got rolling. A B Corbin ace and two Haselhorst blocks brought the Birds to within 11-9. McCaffrey answered, though, with five straight kills to end the match.
Dingman saluted Northern Iowas dominance.
When a team beats you three times in a row, nine games in a row, you can definitely say they are the better team and they were, said Dingman. Game three was a lot more indicative of how we can play, but they proved they are the better team right now.
Alexandra Auker, with nine kills, eight digs and five service aces, was the tournament Most Valuable Player for the second straight year. She was joined on the all-Tournament team by teammates Molly OBrien and Jeni Schneckloth, plus Weber and Haselhorst from Illinois State, Evansvilles Ladi Iya, Indiana States Megan Lynch, Creightons Melissa Walsh and Southwest Missouri States Liesbeth Gorremans.
