Sept. 24, 2004
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Iowa began the Big Ten volleyball season tonight against Michigan. The Hawkeyes came out of the gate strong, but Michigan eventually won 37-35 and took the match in three games (37-35, 30-14, 30-23).
“I think that we really took Michigan by surprise in the first game and had them back on their heels. But they took that momentum into the second game and we just weren’t ready to play,” said Iowa coach Cindy Fredrick.. “We did not communicate in that game and it hurt us a lot. We’re doing a good job of playing well to begin with, but we really need to learn to finish teams off.”
The first game was close from the first serve. The score was tied fourteen times in the match, before two Iowa mistakes gave the Wolverines the 37-35 win. Iowa had their chances, serving for the game two different times, but Michigan always had a response.
Michigan controlled all areas in the second game. The Wolverines were ahead 7-5 when they went on a roll, eventually taking a 24-9 lead. The Hawkeyes managed to score a few points, including an ace serve by Pam Kavadas, but it was too little to late. Michigan’s Megan Bowman ended the game with a kill, 30-14.
The Hawks battled to stay alive in game three. Iowa tied the score 12-12 on hitting errors by Michigan, but the visitors rattled off four straight kills to take a 16-12 lead. That would be the smallest margin for the rest of the game as the Wolverines went on to a 30-23 victory.
Tiana Costanzo and Carolyn Giese led Iowa with ten kills each. Stacy Vitali added eight kills and Laura Simpson had six. Justeen Patton tallied 24 assists. Kavadas lead Iowa with 12 digs and had the lone ace serve for the Hawks. Simpson was the block leader with one solo and three block assists.
Michigan bettered Iowa in most statistical categories. The Wolverines had nine blocks to the Hawk’s five. They also had 66 kills, while Iowa only came down with 39 successful attacks. Michigan had a .310 team hitting average. Iowa hit at a .121 clip.
Iowa takes on Michigan State tomorrow at 7 p.m. in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.