The eighth-ranked Northern Iowa volleyball team will take part in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament this weekend in Peoria. The Panthers won a fifth consecutive regular season title and own a 15-match winning streak. U-N-I coach Bobbi Peterson says how the Panthers perform in the tournament will affect their seeding in the tournament.She says winning the conference tournament gives them a much better chance to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament. She says that’s important in giving her team the chance to perform at their best in the tournament. U-N-I is the favorite but Peterson says there will be plenty of challenges. She says any of the top six teams in the conference have the potential to do well, it’s just a matter of who’s hot and who’s playing well.