CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Northern Iowa lost the first set, but came back to defeat Wichita State 3-1. The Panthers won by scores of 20-25, 25-18, 25-23 and 25-22.

Jody Larson led the Shockers with 17 kills and 20 digs. Emily Hiebert added 45 assists and 11 digs.

UNI took a quick 6-3 lead in the first set, but the Shockers used a 3-0 run including a service ace from Tabitha Brown to tie it at seven. The Panthers responded with a 4-0 run to go in front 12-8, but the Shockers tied it at 15 on a kill by Brown. WSU used a 4-0 run to go in front 20-17, but UNI scored three-straight to tie it at 20. WSU answered with a 5-0 run to take the set 25-20.

The Panthers again raced out to an early lead in the second set. UNI used three-straight kills to take a 5-1 lead and increased it to 12-4 with a 6-0 run. The Shockers used kills from Brown and Larson to cut it to 12-6 and then to 15-11 after a Larson service ace. UNI responded with three-straight to take an 18-11 lead and increased it to 23-15 with a kill. The Shockers used a kill from Raudsepp, a block from Raudsepp and Lehman and a Panther hitting error to cut the lead to 23-18, but UNI won the set 25-18.

The Shockers used a Dudzinski kill to take a 3-1 lead in the third set, but the Panthers scored three-straight to take a 4-3 lead. WSU answered with kills from Larson and Raudsepp and a block from Lehman and Hiebert to take a 6-4 lead, but UNI responded by scoring eight of the next nine points to go in front 12-7. WSU pulled to within 18-15 to force a Panther timeout and two kills from Larson made it 23-22. UNI scored two of the final three points to take the 25-23 win.

The fourth set went back and forth until two-straight kills from Larson gave WSU a 13-10 lead. The Panthers tied it at 14 on a service ace and took a 17-15 lead on a Shocker error. The Panthers increased the lead to 20-16 after three-straight kills and won the set 25-22.

The Shockers are next in action on Fri., Oct. 7 when they host Loyola at 7 p.m. inside Charles Koch Arena.