Hawkeyes Host Holiday Inn Challenge

Sept. 5, 2006

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This Week ? The University of Iowa volleyball team returns home to host the Hawkeye-Holiday Inn Challenge Friday and Saturday in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The tournament opens with UMKC and Florida-Atlantic playing a 4:30 p.m. game Friday. Iowa makes it’s debut at 7 p.m. against Tulane. Iowa and UMKC kick off Saturday’s play with a 10 a.m. game, followed by Tulane vs. FAU at Noon and Tulane vs. UMKC at 5 p.m. Iowa and FAU end the tournament with a 7 p.m. game Saturday.

Hawkeyes on the Web ? If you can’t make it to North Carver this weekend, you can still follow all of the action on hawkeyesports.com, where a live audio broadcast and livestats will be available.

Play-by-play from the voice of Iowa volleyball Brian Wilson can be found by clicking on the Hawkeye All-Access link at hawkeyesports.com, then selecting the game you would like to listen to. To check out the livestats, just click on the “gametracker” link on the schedule page.

Web Conference ? Iowa Head Coach Cindy Fredrick will be hosting a weekly “Web Conference” every Tuesday this season.She will address a variety of topics, from the state of the team to that week’s opponents.

Hawkeye fans can get in on the act and ask Coach Fredrick questions of their own by emailing them to AskCoachFredrick@yahoo.com. The coach will answer as many fan questions as possible.

Last Week ? The Hawkeyes continued their hot start to the 2006 season by winning the Bluejay Invitational at Creighton University. Iowa defeated North Dakota State (30-20, 30-22, 25-30, 32-34, 15-10), Jacksonville State (30-26, 30-26, 30-22) and Creighton (23-30, 30-27, 30-28, 27-30 and 15-13).

After splitting the first four games against North Dakota State, the Hawkeyes came out in game five wanting to leave no doubt. Senior Melanie Meister served the Hawkeyes to a 6-0 lead to start the game, and Iowa cruised from there to take the match.

The Hawkeyes struggled early in game one against Jacksonville State, getting in a 17-10 hole before fighting back. Iowa slowly started chipping away at the Gamecock advantage, eventually taking its first lead at 22-21 with back-to-back kills by Jen Barcus and Alicia Johnson.

Jacksonville State wouldn’t go easy, however, and the two teams traded the lead multiple times before the Hawkeyes pulled away for the win.

In game two, Iowa used three-straight kills by Barcus and Catherine Smale to take its first lead at 7-5, then the two teams traded points the rest of the way. Neither squad was able to pull more than two points ahead until a pair of Hawkeye kills gave Iowa a 27-23 advantage. Barcus’ fifth kill of the game sealed the win for the Black and Gold.

Iowa led from wire-to-wire in game three, holding a comfortable lead the whole way. Kills by Megan Schipper and Barcus ended the match for Iowa.

Against Creighton, the decisive game five (like the entire match) was a barn-burner that went back-and-forth the entire way. Neither team took more than a two-point lead.

Trailing 11-12, Iowa rebounded to take the lead on a Meister block and Creighton attack error. Another Creighton error took the score to 14-12, but the Bluejays responded with a block to cut the Iowa lead to 14-13. Schipper ended things with her second kill of the night.

All-Tournament Team ? The Hawkeyes had a pair of players on the all-tournament team at last weekend’s Bluejay Invitational. Senior Jen Barcus was named tournament MVP, while sophomore setter Kiley Fister was on the all-tournament team.

That’s a New Hawkeye Record ? Senior middle blocker Jen Barcus set a new Iowa record for attack percentage in a five-game match when she hit a blistering .636 against North Dakota State. The Washington State transfer had 21 kills on 33 attempts and no errors.

The previous record was .607, which was set by Kari Hamel against Northwestern in 1986.

Scouting UMKC ? The UMKC Kangaroos are 0-7 on the year. The team’s offense is led by junior outside hitter Lauren Starks, who is averaging 2.79 kills per game.

The offense is run by setter Caitlin Koening, who is averaging 6.36 assists per game.

UMKC is coached by Chrissy Elder, who is in her first season as interim head coach. This will be the first meeting between the two schools.

Scouting Tulane ? The Tulane Green Wave are 3-0 on the year and coming off a weekend off from competition.

The team is led by 2005 honorable mention all-America outside hitter Sara Radosevic, who is averaging a team-best 5.18 kills per game and has nine service aces in just three matches. Freshman Ksenija Vlaskovic is second on the team with 3.73 kills per game.

Luna Rebrovic is the team’s primary setter, averaging 12.67 assists per game. The libero is Jenn Miller, who is digging up 4.91 per game.

Tulane is coached by Liz Kritza, who is in her second year. Iowa holds a 1-0 record against Tulane, with the only meeting coming in 1984.

Scouting Florida-Atlantic ? The Florida-Atlantic Owls are 0-6 on the year and still looking for their first game win.

The offense is led by seniors Iana Andonova (5.22 kpg) and Janelle Sarauw (3.83 kpg). Andonova was an honorable mention all-American in 2004, but redshirted last season.

The Owls’ primary setter is Casey LaRocca, who is averaging 11.61 assists per game.

Florida-Atlantic is coached by Iowa native Jody Brown. He is in his 12th season. This will be the first meeting between the two schools.

Career Highs ? A pair of Hawkeyes set career-highs in Iowa’s five-game match against North Dakota State. Sophomore setter Kiley Fister put up 70 assists, eight more than her previous best of 62 (9/9/05 vs. Texas-Arlington), while sophomore libero Emily Hiza dug out 29 balls, topping her previous high of 26 (10/4/05 vs. Michigan State).

Block Party ? Senior middle blocker Melanie Meister has been a defensive force in the middle for Iowa this season, and leads the team with 30 blocks (1.30 per game).

Schipper in the Clutch ? Freshman Megan Schipper has consistently come through when the Hawkeyes needed her. In her short career, two of her seven kills have been game-winners.

Smale Succeeds ? Catherine Smale, an outside hitter, was the first Hawkeye to be named to the Big Ten all-freshman team last year. She ended with a team-best 3.61 kills per game average, and also averaged 2.56 digs per game on the defensive end.

Already No. 6 ? Sophomore setter Kiley Fister is already among the all-time leaders at Iowa in assists. She has 1,536, good for sixth on the Hawkeyes’ all-time list. Jitka Stehnova (2002-03) is in fifth with 2,159.

Janet Moylan (1987-90) is Iowa’s all-time leader with 5,471.

Take Me To Your Leader ? Senior middle blocker Melanie Meister and sophomore libero Emily Hiza are the Hawkeye captains this season.

The Assistant Coaches ? Dr. Mashallah (Farokh) Farokhmanesh and Chad Hanson will serve as assistants to Head Coach Cindy Fredrick again this season. Farokh, the associate head coach, is the husband of Coach Fredrick.

Welcome Aboard ? The Hawkeye coaching staff has a new addition this year with Katie McGuine joining the team as the Director of Volleyball Operations.

McGuine will work closely with the Hawkeye volleyball staff, helping coordinate and carry out the day-to-day activities in the program.

McGuine joins the Hawkeyes after serving as the Human Resources Manager at Cardinal of Minnesota, Ltd., in Rochester, MN. She also served as head volleyball coach at Pine Island High School during the 2003 and 2004 seasons. In 2005 and 2006 she was head coach of the 16s Southern Minnesota Volleyball Club in Rochester, MN.