Oct. 7, 2006
IOWA CITY – The Univeristy of Iowa volleyball team came up just short of their biggest upset in years, falling in five games to ninth-ranked Purdue Saturday night in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa (12-6, 1-6) fell by scores of 28-30, 30-26, 33-31, 28-30 and 15-11.
“It’s not a great feeling losing, but we do feel good about how we played tonight,” Iowa Head Coach Cindy Fredrick said. “We fought hard and really battled them. If we could have just eliminated a few mistakes, we could have pulled it out.”
Sophomore outside hitter Catherine Smale had a career-high 27 kills and hit at a .317 clip for the night. She also added 11 digs and a pair of blocks.
Three other Hawkeyes recorded double-digits in kills Friday. Melanie Meister and Megan Schipper each had 14, while Jen Barcus had 12.
Five Hawkeyes reached double-digits in digs – Emily Hiza (24), Tiana Costanzo (16), Kiley Fister (15), Christina Meister (10) and Smale (10).
Iowa got out to a hot start, coming back to take game one after falling into a six-point hole early.
The Boilermakers rebounded to take the next two games, including a thrilling game three that went to 33-31. With the scored tied 28-28, Iowa took the game to game point on a kill from Smale. Purdue tied it up at 29-29, only to have Smale strike again to give Iowa a 30-39 lead. The Boilermakers got two-straight kills, but Iowa fought off game point again on yet another kill from Smale. Back-to-back kills from Danita Merlau gave game three to Purdue. Merlau ended with a match high 29 kills.
Iowa won game four behind a great effort from Melanie Meister, who had five kills and a .833 hitting percentage in the game.
The Boilermakers led game five wire-to-wire, but were forced to fend off several charges by the Hawkeyes, who just missed getting over the hump each time.
Iowa returns to action next weekend with road contests at Michigan (Fri. – 7 p.m.) and Michigan State (8 p.m.). All times are Eastern.
MATCH SUMMARYNo. 9 Purdue 28 30 33 28 15IOWA 30 26 31 30 11