Sept. 17, 2005
The University of Iowa volleyball team (9-3) ended the Microtel Inn & Suites CCU Classic 3-0 today after defeating North Carolina A&T in three games, then downing East Tennessee State 3-1.
After a 3-3 tie in game one against North Carolina A&T, the Hawkeyes took the lead on two Iowa kills and three straight errors by NCAT. The Aggies could only close the gap to six points at 16-10 before the Hawkeyes buried them 30-15.
Errors continued to plague NCAT in game two with Iowa leading most of the game. NCAT wouldn’t give up, however, and came within one point of the Hawkeyes at 23-22. All that work was put aside after the Aggies committed five errors in the last points of the game to give Iowa the 30-24 victory.
Game three was the closest game of the match with the lead changing sides five times and the score tied seven times. The Hawkeyes started to pull away midway through Iowa won the game, 30-24, after an attacking error by NCAT.
Junior Tiana Costanzo led all hitters with nine kills in the game; she had just one hitting error for a .400 hitting percentage. Stacy Vitali and Catherine Smale each had seven kills for the Hawkeyes; Melanie Meister and Megan Gatens had five kills apiece for Iowa. Kiley Fister tallied 30 assists for the Hawkeyes in the match.
The Hawkeyes had 41 kills to just 23 by NCAT. The statistics tell the story of how the match went for both teams; Iowa committed 19 hitting errors to 27 by the Aggies. The Hawkeyes had 14 service errors and NCAT had 12 errors behind the service line.
Both squads put up nine blocks in the match. Vitali led the Hawkeyes with one solo block and five block assists. Costanzo led the team with 13 digs; Emily Hiza and Smale had 12 and 11 digs, respectively.
Against East Tennessee State, the Hawkeyes dropped game one 30-27 before storming back and taking the next three games to get the 3-1 match win.
Game SummaryIOWA 30 30 30North Carolina A&T 15 24 24