Hawkeyes Return Home

Oct. 2, 2006

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

This Week ? The University of Iowa volleyball team (11-5, 0-4) returns to North Carver this weekend for a two-game homestand with Indiana and No. 9 Purdue.

The Hawkeyes will play the Hoosiers Friday night at 7 p.m., then battle the Boilermakers Saturday at 7 p.m.

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 Brian Wilson and former Iowa player Barb (Willis) Randall 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.

Looking For 400 ? Iowa Head Coach Cindy Fredrick is one win away from a milesone – win number 400. Currently, the coach has a career record of 399-288.

Coach Fredrick will be one of just 43 active head coaches with 400 wins. She is 35-46 at Iowa, and posted records of 86-50 at Weber State and 278-192 at Washington State.

Last Week ? The Hawkeyes had a rough first weekend on the road in Big Ten play, falling to Northwestern (30-18, 30-20, 30-25) and Illinois (30-22, 24-30, 30-21, 30-21).

In game one against the Wildcats, things remained close until Northwestern went on a torrid run, scoring 13-of-15 points to take a commanding 24-11 lead. Iowa fought back behind the serving of Melanie Meister and took six-consecutive points, cutting the lead to 24-17. The Wildcats had another run in them, however, and closed the game by taking six of the last seven points.

In game two, Iowa kept things close to until the closing moments when Northwestern scored eight of the final 10 points to take a 30-20 win.

Iowa came out of the break fired up, and looked like it was ready to take the third game. The Hawkeyes led until a pair of errors gave Northwestern its first lead at 21-20. Iowa was never able to re-gain the lead, and the Wildcats took the match with a 30-25 win.

In game one with Illinois, Iowa kept things tight early, and tied the game up at 16-16 after back-to-back kills from Catherine Smale and Allison Smith and an Illinois attack error. The Fighting Illini bounced back and began to pull away with a five-point run. A kill from Kayani Turner ended the game a 30-22.

The Hawkeyes jumped out to an early lead in game two, only to have Illinois come back and tie things up at 19-19. Iowa responded right away and re-took its lead behind a Meister kill. The Hawkeyes never looked back, and Smale pounded out Iowa’s last three points for the 30-24 win. She had a team-high nine kills in the game.

The Illini came storming back in game three, trailing only after giving the Hawkeyes a 1-0 lead on a service error. Iowa managed to cut the lead to 12-11 with a Kiley Fister ace, but could get no closer and fell 30-21.

The Hawkeyes got into a hole early in game four when the Fighting Illini jumped out to a 7-2 lead and forced Iowa into a timeout. It didn’t get any easier for the Black and Gold the rest of the way, as Illinois cruised to the win and took the match.

Scouting Indiana ? The Indiana Hoosiers enter the week with a 10-6 record and 1-3 mark in Big Ten Conference play. They will host Purdue Wednesday night before traveling to Iowa City for Friday’s game.

The Hoosier offense is led by sophomore outside hitter Erica Short, who is averaging 4.91 kills per game. That total is good for second in the conference. Last season as a freshman, Short broke the Hoosiers’ all-time freshman single-season kills record.

On defense, middle blocker Annie Moddrell is tied for seventh in the Big Ten with 1.21 blocks per game. Senior libero Sara Diehl is averaging 3.35 digs per game.

The Hoosiers use a pair of setters to run their offense, Allison Regas (5.91 assists per game) and Caitlin Watts (5.65 assists per game).

Indiana is coached by Katie Weismiller, who is in her 13th season.

The Hoosiers lead the all-time series 29-23, but Iowa swept the season series last year and has won three-straight matches with Indiana.

Scouting Purdue ? The Purdue Boilermakers enter the week with a 13-2 mark and a 3-1 record in Big Ten Conference play. They will travel to Bloomington, IN, Wednesday night for a game with Indiana before coming to Iowa City Saturday.

The Boilermakers are ranked ninth in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll.

Sophomore outside hitter Danita Merlau leads the offense with 3.90 kills per game, which is good for tenth in the Big Ten. Sophomore Stephanie Lynch is eighth in the conference with 1.21 blocks per game. Both Merlau and Lynch were members of the Big Ten All-Freshman team last season.

Purdue uses a pair of setters to run its offense, freshman Sam Gray (8.61 assists per game) and redshirt freshman Lindsay Shondell (5.45 assists per game).

The Boilermakers are coached by Dave Shondell, who is in his fourth season at the helm.

Purdue leads the all-time series 36-18, and has won the past four meetings.

Ace High ? Hawkeye sophomore setter Kiley Fister is second in the Big Ten with 0.57 service aces per game in conference play. In 14 games, Fister has eight aces.

Dig `em Up ? Sophomore libero Emily Hiza is fifth in the Big Ten with 4.70 digs per game. As a team, the Hawkeyes are second in the conference with 16.93 digs per game.

Block Party ? In Big Ten Conference play, senior Melanie Meister is ranked third with 1.57 blocks per game.

Back-to-Back Grand Crowds ? The Hawkeyes had crowds of over 1,000 people in back-to-back games for the first time in school history this weekend. Iowa had 1,339 fans in attendance against Penn State Friday, then drew 1,424 Saturday against Ohio State.

The crowds were the second and third biggest crowds in school history. Iowa set a school record with 1,690 fans for the August 26 game against Iowa State earlier this season.

Already No. 6 ? Sophomore setter Kiley Fister is already among the all-time leaders at Iowa in assists. She has 1,954, 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.