CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Bradley had a two-sets-to-one lead at Northern Iowa, but the Panthers rallied to take the next two frames and pull out a five-set 25-27, 25-19, 23-25, 25-17, 15-9 victory against the Braves Friday at the McLeod Center.

Senior Lauren Zerante (Elmhurst, Ill./York) tied a career-high with 36 digs and fellow senior Amy Angelos (Waukegan, Ill./Waukegan) tied for match-high honors with 13 kills to pace Bradley's offensive efforts.  Senior Alise Tupuritis (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) added her team-best 12th double-double of the year, finishing with 11 kills and 11 digs.

Northern Iowa (22-7 overall, 14-3 MVC) kept its chances of earning a share of the regular-season Missouri Valley Conference title alive with the win, with five UNI players collecting 10 or more kills and the Panthers recording 18 blocks in the victory.

Bradley (12-14 overall, 6-11 MVC) won two sets in a match in Cedar Falls, Iowa, for the first time since falling in five sets at UNI during the 2002 season.

The Braves battled back in the first set after the Panthers held set point at 23-24 and Bradley had set point at 25-24 after a pair of Northern Iowa errors.  UNI pulled even (25-25) on a kill, but freshman Rachel Jones (Champaign, Ill./Centennial) put BU ahead with a kill and junior Madison Kamp (Orland Park, Ill./Chicago Christian) closed out a 27-25 Bradley victory with a kill of her own.

UNI jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the second set and the Braves got no closer than three points the rest of the way as the Panthers pulled even in the match with a 25-19 win. 

The third set was knotted at 22-22 after a Tupuritis kill and sophomore Kristi Chynoweth (Parkland, Fla./North Broward) took over down the stretch to help the Braves finish off a 25-23 victory.  Chynoweth broke the tie with back-to-back kills to give BU set point at 24-22 and followed a UNI kill with her fourth of the set to close out the stanza.

Northern Iowa collected five of its 18 blocks in the fourth set and forced a deciding fifth set with a 25-17 win.  A 6-1 UNI spurt broke open a one-point contest and gave the Panthers 13-7 advantage.  Northern Iowa pushed the lead to as many as 11 points (22-11) and forced Bradley into 10 attack errors in the fourth set.

Bradley was within one point at 7-6 midway through the fifth set when Kinsey Caldwell had back-to-back kills and a service ace to give UNI a 10-6 lead.  The Panthers completed the comeback by taking the fifth set 15-9.

Angelos recorded the 1,100th kill of her career, finishing with 13 to lead the Braves and Tupuritis moved into 13th on Bradley's career kills list with an 11-kill effort (993 kills).  Tupuritis passed Cindy Novak (989 kills) on the all-time kills list at BU and enters Saturday's match at Drake needing seven kills to reach 1,000 in her career.

The only player in school history with three matches of 30 digs or more, Zerante tied a career-best with 36 digs in the setback.  She became the fourth player in program history with 500 digs in a season and reached 1,300 digs for her career Friday against the Panthers.  Zerante's 36 digs tied for the second most in a match in BU history.

Caldwell recorded a triple double, collecting 10 kills, 39 assists and 14 digs to lead UNI.  Courtney Kintzel finished with 13 kills, while Shelby Kintzel notched 11 blocks to go with 11 kills. 

Bradley slipped into a tie for seventh in the Missouri Valley Conference standings with the loss and a Loyola victory at Drake Friday night.  The Braves close out the regular season schedule Saturday with a 7 p.m. match against Drake in Des Moines, Iowa.