Sept. 10, 2004
BEAUMONT, TX – It’s been over a decade since Iowa coach Cindy Fredrick was at Weber State, so she probably isn’t privy to any inside secrets. Those might have come in handy during some points of the match, but her Iowa squad managed just fine on their own to beat the Wildcats, 3-1.
Both teams traded points in the beginning of game one until the score was knotted at eight apiece, but then the Hawks poured on 12 consecutive points to go ahead 20-8. The Wildcats of coach Al Givens managed to squeeze a few points in here and there, but Iowa was firmly in control for most of the game. Laura Simpson, playing in the unusual position of middle blocker, slammed a kill to put the Hawks up 25-12. Later, Justeen Patton entered the lineup for Iowa to serve out the match, 30-16.
Serving errors by Weber State gave Iowa two easy points early on as they took a 6-4 lead in the second game. The Wildcats went up momentarily, 8-7, after a lengthy rally in which both teams had several saves. Later, Carolyn Giese found a hole for a tip behind Weber State’s front line and then teamed up with Chelsey Garrett for a full-blown kill to put Iowa up 15-13. As the game went on, Weber State’s offense started to come alive as 6’2″ hitter Kolbie Murphey earned a kill and then served two straight points for Weber State to go ahead 20-19. Iowa wasn’t fazed and came back with a four-point run to lead 23-20 on the way to a 30-24 win.
In game three, Jacqueline Huguelet served an ace to put the Hawks up 4-3, but a joust at the net gave the Wildcats the side-out and a point. Neither team could gain momentum and continued to trade points back and forth. The biggest lead early on was three points when Weber State went ahead 14-11, but Tiana Costanzo slowed them down with a cross-court shot from the left side. The Wildcats were on top 22-19 again later in the game, when Stacy Vitali found the line to give Iowa a side-out. Later, Lauren Bruckner served an ace to tie the game at 23, but an Iowa miscue on defense sent the ball back to Weber State who then went up 27-23 before earning the win 30-25.
After forcing the fourth game, Weber State took control early to lead 9-5. The advantage grew to 12-6 when the net helped Kaylie Kortsen’s serve over and dropped it right in front of the Iowa receivers. The Hawks then failed to get much going offensively and fell to a 22-16 deficit. Betsy Cordt started a small spark with an ace to make the score 22-18 and Costanzo and Giese then slammed down two kills in a row. Simpson dropped in a tip to pull Iowa within one, 26-25. Iowa went on a run to go up 29-28 and won the game when a Weber State serve sailed into the net.
The statistic sheet tells the story of the match: the Hawkeyes hit at a .367 clip in the first game (30-16 win) but that percentage dropped to .057 in game three (30-25 loss). For the match, Iowa had a .204 hitting percentage compared to .172 for Weber State. The squads each had seven team blocks. The Wildcats had 17 serving errors and 11 receiving errors, compared to eight serving errors and eight receiving errors by the Hawks.
“The first two games we played really well – the passing and transitioning were really clicking,” said Fredrick. “In game three, when we started to struggle with our passing, everything went downhill from there. We just really need some consistency in all aspects of our game right now.”
Senior Carolyn Giese paced the Iowa hitters with 15 kills. Sophomore Tiana Costanzo connected for 13 kills and Stacy Vitali had 12. Laura Simpson led the blocking effort with 3.5 and Pam Kavadas dug up 20 attempted kills. Chelsey Garrett and Justeen Patton had 31 and 15 assists, respectively.
In tomorrow’s action, Iowa faces Grambling State at 3 p.m. and will take on host school Lamar University at 7:30 p.m.