Oct. 22, 2005
Coming into tonight’s match against No. 20 Ohio State (14-5, 7-3), the University of Iowa volleyball team (13-10, 3-7) knew they had a tough fight on their hands. The Hawkeyes weren’t daunted by the national ranking, and took one game from the Buckeyes, but eventually lost the match by scores of 27-30, 30-21, 30-23, and 30-27.
In game one, the Hawkeyes went ahead 22-20 on a Jacqueline Huguelet ace. Iowa kept the momentum and forced Ohio State to call a timeout with the score in Iowa’s favor 26-21. Back-to-back errors by the Buckeyes gave Iowa a 28-24 lead, but Ohio State wasn’t done and came back with a kill by Marisa Main. Catherine Smale smashed home a kill for the sideout, 29-27, and Kiley Fister served home the game point for the 30-27 win.
The Buckeyes responded in game two by jumping out early for the lead. The Hawkeyes clawed their way back into the game and were down just 17-20, but Iowa turned into their own worst enemy and had three straight errors to fall behind 23-17. Ohio State kept applying the pressure and won 30-21.
In the third game, the Hawkeyes were ahead 15-12 when Ohio State came back to knot up the score at 15. Stacy Vitali had a kill to put Iowa on top again 16-15, but the Hawkeyes quickly found themselves trailing Ohio State and couldn’t make up the difference. The Buckeyes took the game by a score of 30-23.
The final game of the match was a nail biter from beginning to end. Ohio State held a slim 21-20 edge on a Melanie Meister kill, but successive kills gave the visitors some more cushion. The Buckeyes were up 27-21 when the Hawkeyes made a comeback attempt, but the deficit proved to be too much and Ohio State won the game 30-27.
Vitali led the Hawkeyes with 21 kills on 33 attempts and Smale was next with 16. The Buckeyes, meanwhile, had five different players with double-digit kills with Danielle Meyer leading the pack with 22.
Fister put up 44 assists, was a part of four blocks and had two service aces. Libero Lauren Bruckner was the top digger for Iowa with 13; Smale and Fister each had seven digs on the night.
As a team, Iowa hit .232 in the match with 59 successful kills. Ohio State had 77 kills and a .329 hitting percentage. Iowa had 11 blocks to 14 by the Buckeyes.
Iowa plays home next Tuesday against Minnesota and next Friday will have “Pack the Place Night” against Indiana.
Scoring SummaryOhio State 27 30 30 30Iowa 30 21 23 27