Oct. 24, 2003
IOWA CITY, IA – The Iowa volleyball team lost its ninth conference match of the season Friday evening in a 3-1 (14-30, 21-30, 30-27, 21-30) loss to 22nd-ranked Michigan State. Iowa’s win in game three snapped a 29-game losing streak.
Michigan State took control to begin game one, pulling out to a 10-4 lead. The Hawkeyes only collected 10 more points, dropping game one, 30-14. Errors proved costly for Iowa as it collected six kills and nine attack errors in 37 attempts to hit at a -.081 clip. Michigan State posted 16 kills while only committing two errors in 33 attempts for a .424 hitting percentage. Junior Laura Simpson and freshman Tiana Costanzo each collected two kills. Simpson and junior Pam Kavadas registered five digs.
Game two began as a close contest. Iowa hung with the Spartans with the score at 19-16. Michigan State then posted an 11-5 run to clinch game two, 30-21. Simpson led the Hawkeye attack with seven kills. Junior Carolyn Giese added five. Kavadas posted seven digs. Hitting percentage again proved to be a factor as Iowa was out-hit, .500-227.
The Hawkeyes came out with momentum after intermission, beginning game three with an 8-4 lead. Michigan State came back, closing the gap, 12-10. The Hawkeyes maintained a steady lead until the Spartans tied things up at 23-23 and took their first lead of the game, 25-24. Iowa fought back, collecting five of the final eight points for the 30-27 victory. Simpson collected seven kills. Giese added four kills and Costanzo collected three. Giese and sophomore Lauren Bruckner each registered a service ace.
The beginning of game four proved to be a tight battle with neither team leading by more than two points until Michigan State took a 12-9 advantage. Michigan State continued to hold on to the lead and won game four by a final score of 30-21, clinching the match.
As a team, the Hawkeyes registered 52 kills, 51 assists, three service aces and 55 digs compared to Michigan State’s 67 kills, 61 assists, five service aces and 69 digs. The Hawkeyes were out-hit .338-.124 and took the advantage with eight total team blocks compared to the Spartans’ six.
Simpson finished the match narrowly missing a double-double with 20 kills and nine digs. She also added three block assists. Costanzo collected her second career double-double with 10 kills and 11 digs. Giese registered 12 kills, one solo block and five block assists. Kavadas finished with 21 digs.
Iowa (5-14, 0-9) will host Michigan tomorrow night. Competition is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.