Sept. 11, 2004
BEAUMONT, TX – Part of a busy athletic Saturday for the University of Iowa included volleyball action in the Lamar Cardinal Classic down in Southeast Texas. The Hawkeyes were ready for action and defeated the Tigers of Grambling State, 3-0.
After starting the match an hour later than scheduled, the Hawkeye volleyball team was anxious to take the court. They turned that energy into a 14-2 lead early on. Iowa continued to build the lead to 21-7, but Grambling State stole a few points the aid of some big hits and Iowa mistakes. Chelsey Garrett served an ace to put the score at 28-14, but Grambling State earned a side-out and another point with a double-block. Iowa earned the 30-15 on a Tiger attacking error.
Grambling State served up a quick 7-2 lead in game two with the help of outside hitter Lacey Cormier who punished the Hawkeyes twice in a row at the net. Iowa shortened the gap to 9-7 on strong blocking and costly errors by Grambling State. Laura Simpson and Garrett teamed up for a kill to turn the tide back to the Iowa side, and Huguelet and Carolyn Giese followed with a successful double-block. The Hawk’s lead was 24-21 when Garrett quick set Giese for a tip that fell in the middle of five Tiger defenders. Justeen Patton came into the Iowa lineup and jump served the final point in the 30-24 win.
In the third game, Iowa went ahead 22-16 when the Tigers started to make things happen on their side of the net. Grambling State’s Latasha Smith had consecutive kills to bring her team within five points, 23-18, when Simpson hammered down for an Iowa side-out. Tiana Costanzo took a set from Patton home for a successful kill to put Iowa on top 28-22 and Giese closed out the game with her 12th kill of the match to earn the 30-24 victory.
Giese and Simpson each had 12 kills to lead the Hawkeyes, who has a team had a .179 hitting percentage. Garrett did the majority of the setting for a total of 34 kills. Costanzo had 12 digs to go along with her four service aces. Pam Kavadas also had three ace serves. The Hawks had 12 blocks compared to just four by the Tigers.
“I was really happy with the plays from our middle blockers because we really need to get that position established. Laura and Carolyn lead the team in kills and that great,” said Iowa coach Cindy Fredrick. “Our serving was also much improved. Tiana and Pam especially did a good job of keeping them out of their offense.”
Iowa (5-1) has one more match tonight at 7:30 p.m. against host school Lamar University. Next Tuesday, the Hawkeyes face Creighton University in Iowa City and next weekend host the Holiday Inn-Hawkeye Challenge.