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CEDAR FALLS | Northern Iowa's volleyball team refused to fall into a slump after dropping its first two Missouri Valley Conference matches last weekend.

Saturday night inside the McLeod Center, the Panthers made quick work of Drake by opening the second rotation through league play with a 25-21, 25-13, 25-23 sweep.

UNI (14-8, 8-2 MVC) was on the same page as it kept pace with Drake (9-12, 1-9) early and separated itself from the Bulldogs in a dominant second set en route to the win.

"I'm just very proud of our team," UNI head coach Bobbi Petersen said after her squad out-hit the Bulldogs, .300 to .202. "I just thought our effort and execution was really good. We had a pretty significant game plan coming in, very particular to what we were doing, one that I thought would challenge our team a little bit. And they were able to execute very well.

"Part of that was the growth in communication. We're getting more comfortable in communicating who's up and what our responsibility is for those certain players that are up. I definitely saw a lot of really good things tonight."