Sept. 2, 2006
OMAHA, NE – The University of Iowa volleyball team won its second-straight game at the Bluejay Invitational Saturday morning, sweeping Jacksonville State 30-26, 30-26 and 30-22. Iowa ups its record to 4-1 on the year.
“I think this was one of our better matches this season,” Iowa Head Coach Cindy Fredrick said. “Jacksonville State is a very quick and athletic team, but we did a good job using our advantage in the middle, where Jen Barcus and Melanie Meister did a great job. Their play really helped open up the outside for us.”
Barcus and Catherine Smale led the team with 12 kills.
The Hawkeyes struggled early in game one, 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 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 Bacus and 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.
The Hawkeyes return to action tonight with a 7 p.m. game against Creighton.
MATCH SUMMARYIOWA 30 30 30JSU 26 26 22