Sept. 27, 2003
BLOOMINGTON, IN – The Iowa volleyball team dropped its second Big Ten match of the season Saturday evening in a 3-0 loss to Indiana at University Gymnasium.
The Hawkeyes came out with the momentum to begin game one, pulling out to a 5-1 lead. Indiana fought back and eventually tied the score at 9-9. The game then turned into a back-and-forth battle with several lead changes. With the scored tied at 19-19, the Hoosiers claimed eight of the next 12 points for a 27-23 lead. The Hawkeyes again fought back and came within a point with the score, 28-27. Indiana once again took control, claiming the final two points for the 30-27 victory. The Hawkeyes posted a strong offensive attack with 17 kills and only six errors in 42 attempts for a .262 hitting percentage. Indiana edged Iowa with 19 kills and committed eight errors in 47 attempts for a .234 hitting percentage.
The Hooisers took control to begin game two as they pulled out to a 6-3 lead. Iowa came back to within two points with the score, 15-13. Indiana then took control claiming 15 of the final 21 points for the 30-19 victory. Iowa registered 10 kills and committed eight errors in 35 attempts for a .057 hitting percentage. The Hoosiers tallied 15 kills while committing five errors in 25 attempts to hit at a .286 clip.
The Hawkeyes were sluggish coming out of intermission as Indiana began game three with a 10-4 lead. Iowa then claimed six of the next eight points to close the lead, 12-10. Indiana once again took control and went on to win the third game, 30-19, to claim the match. Errors proved costly for the Hawkeyes as they registered nine kills and committed eight errors in 33 attempts for a .030 hitting percentage. Indiana dominated the net with 18 kills while committing only four errors in 24 attempts to hit at a .412 clip.
Hitting percentage once again hampered the Hawkeyes as Iowa registered 36 kills and committed 22 errors in 110 attempts to hit at a .127 clip. The Hoosiers posted 52 kills while committing only 17 errors in 116 attempts for a .302 hitting percentage. Iowa posted 29 assists compared to Indiana’s 42, two service aces compared to the Hoosiers’ seven and 40 digs compared to Indiana’s 43. The Hawkeyes were also edged in total team blocks with six compared to the Hoosiers’ eight.
Junior Laura Simpson once again led the Hawkeye attack with 11 kills and five digs. Senior Louise Bates collected a career-high 28 assists and registered four kills and eight digs. Freshman April Mech collected three kills, eight digs, one service ace, one solo block and three block assists. Junior Carolyn Giese recorded eight kills and one service ace. Freshman Aabria Lipscomb posted career highs with four kills and three block assists. Sophomore Echaka Agba registered six kills. Freshman Tiana Costanzo recorded nine digs.
The Hawkeyes (5-6, 0-2) will return home to host its first match of the season. Iowa will face 10th-ranked Northern Iowa Wednesday evening at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Competition is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Admission is $3.