Nov. 14, 2003
IOWA CITY, IA – The Iowa women’s volleyball team dropped its 15th conference match of the season in a 3-1 loss to Indiana Friday evening at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Iowa pulled out to a fast start to begin game one with a 7-4 advantage. The Hawkeyes continued to hold the lead until Indiana tied the score at 11-11. The game then turned into a back-and-forth contest with Iowa holding the slight advantage. The Hawkeyes pulled away with the score, 26-22 and held off the Hoosiers en route to the 30-28 victory. The win marked the first time this season that Iowa has won the first game in a conference match. The Hawkeyes out-hit Indiana, .149-.093. Junior Laura Simpson led the attack with six kills. Junior Carolyn Giese collected five. Senior Abby Tjaden added four. Junior Pam Kavadas registered seven digs.
Indiana took the advantage to begin game two with a 5-2 lead. Iowa collected the next three points to tie the score at 5-5. The game remained close with nether team leading by more than two points until the Hoosiers took a 17-14 lead. Iowa fought back, tying the score at 18-18 and again at 20-20. Indiana once again took the advantage and took game two, 30-26. Tjaden led Iowa with six kills. Simpson and Giese collected four kills. Kavadas added six digs and sophomore Lauren Bruckner collected five.
The Hoosiers began game three with the momentum, taking an early 10-6 lead. Iowa fought back and kept the score close. The Hawkeyes were never able to take the lead and fell to Indiana, 30-26. Tjaden had five kills. Senior Jitka Stehnova collected 16 assists and five digs. Game four proved to be a fierce battle with neither team holding a solid advantage. With the score tied at 10-10, the Hoosiers took a 12-10 lead and continued to hold the advantage. Iowa was unable to regain the lead as Indiana won 30-27 to claim game four and the match.
In overall statistics, Iowa held the advantage in kills (69-59), assists (63-56) and digs (89-72), but was edged in service aces (4-3), total team blocks (20-12) and were out-hit .199-.111.
Tjaden posted a career performance for the Hawkeyes. She recorded a career-high 20 kills, shattering her previous best of 13 set earlier this season versus Austin Peay. She also collected three digs, one solo block and three block assists. Kavadas also had a career night with a personal-best 25 digs. Simpson finished with 18 kills, five digs and four block assists. Stehnova collected her eighth double-double of the season with 60 assists and 14 digs. She also had one solo block and two assists. Giese registered 16 kills, six digs and a team-leading six block assists. Freshman Tiana Costanzo recorded 15 digs, seven kills and one service ace. Freshman April Mech and Bruckner each tallied a service ace. Bruckner also collected nine digs.
The Hawkeyes (5-20, 0-15) will return to their home court tomorrow night to face Purdue. Competition is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.