Oct. 9, 2006
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This Week ? The University of Iowa volleyball team (12-6, 1-5) will hit the road this weekend for a pair of games in Michigan.
Iowa will battle the Michigan Wolverines at 7 p.m. Friday in Ann Arbor, then travel to East Lansing for an 8 p.m. game with Michigan State. All times are Eastern.
Hawkeyes on the Web ? If you can’t make it to Michigan and Michigan State 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 Dan Yopchick 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.
Win Number 400 ? Iowa Head Coach Cindy Fredrick won her 400th career collegiate game Friday with a 3-0 (30-20, 30-24, 30-23) win over Indiana.
Coach Fredrick is now 400-290 in her career, with a 36-47 record at the University of Iowa.
Last Week ? The Hawkeyes split a pair of Big Ten games over the weekend, getting their first conference win with a sweep of Indiana (30-20, 30-24, 30-23), then falling to No. 9 Purdue in five games (30-28, 26-30, 31-33, 30-28, 11-15).
Iowa cruised in game one against Indiana, taking a 22-14 lead after scoring eight-of-ten points. The Hoosiers never threatened from that point on, and an Indiana attack error ended the game at 30-20.
Games two and three remained close through the first half, but in each contest Iowa made a late charge to put things out of reach and take the win.
Iowa got out to a hot start against Purdue, 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 Catherine 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 an .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.
Scouting Michigan ? The Michigan Wolverines are 15-4 on the year and 2-4 in the Big Ten Conference. The Wolverines will host Michigan State Wednesday night before taking on the Hawkeyes Friday.
The Wolverine offense is led by Katie Bruzdzinski, who is seventh in the Big Ten with 4.48 kills per game.
On defense, Michigan is second in the Big Ten with a .128 opponent’s hitting percentage. Megan Bowman leads the way with 1.20 blocks per game, while Stesha Selsky (4.22) and Kerry Hance (3.94) are ranked eighth and ninth in the conference in digs per game.
Selsky is Michigan’s setter, and averages 12.87 assists per game.
The Wolverines are coached by Mark Rosen, who is in his eighth season. Michigan leads the all-time series 25-24, and have won the last 10 meetings.
Scouting Michigan State ? The Michigan State Spartans are 11-5 with a 2-4 mark in the Big Ten. The Spartans will travel to Ann Arbor for a game with Michigan Wednesday night before hosting Iowa Saturday.
The Michigan State offense is one of the most potent in the conference, and leads the Big Ten in kills (17.39) and assists (15.95). The Spartans are third in team hitting percentage at .294.
Individually, Katie Johnson is second in the Big Ten with 4.98 kills per game, while Ashley Schatzle is eighth with 4.33 kills per game.
Michigan State has three players – Jessica Hol (.356), Vanezza King (.350) and Allison Ianni (.333) – in the top ten in hitting percentage.
On defense, Nicole Colaluca is third in the Big Ten with 4.98 digs per game.
Michigan State is coached by Cathy George, who is in her second season at the helm. The Spartans lead the all-time series 28-22, and swept the Hawkeyes last season.
Career High ? Sophomore outside hitter Catherine Smale pounded out a career-high 27 kills Saturday in Iowa’s loss to No. 9 Purdue.
Her previous career-high was 24, which she set earlier this season against Florida-Atlantic (Sept. 9). The St. Charles, IL, native leads the team with 3.26 kills per game.
Schipper Shines ? Freshman outside hitter Megan Schipper had a monster game last Friday in Iowa’s win over Indiana. Schipper recorded 13 kills and a career-high .423 attack percentage.
The freshman from Parkersburg, IA, followed that effort up with 14 kills in Iowa’s loss against Purdue.
Welcome Back ? Junior rightside hitter Stacy Vitali saw her first action of the year Friday in Iowa’s win over Indiana. The St. Charles, IL, native hit at a team-high .444 clip (five kills, nine attempts, one error). She had been out with a shoulder injury.
Meister 2.0 Released ? Freshman Christina Meister saw her first extensive action this weekend, moving into the regular rotation as a defensive specialist. Meister had a career-high 10 digs and five assists against No. 9 Purdue.
Meister, who is also a setter, gives the Hawkeyes another good pair of hands on the attack when she is on the court.
Digstown ? As a team, the Hawkeyes are second in the Big Ten with 17.00 digs per game. Michigan leads the way with 18.14 digs per game.
Meister in the Big Ten ? Hawkeye senior middle blocker Melanie Meister has picked up her pace in Big Ten Conference play. The West Des Moines native, already enjoying a career season, is sixth in the conference with a .331 attack percentage in Big Ten play.
On defense, Meister is averaging 1.18 blocks per game in conference play, good for eighth in the Big Ten.
Dig `em Up ? Sophomore libero Emily Hiza is fourth in the Big Ten with 4.82 digs per game.
Already No. 6 ? Sophomore setter Kiley Fister is already among the all-time leaders at Iowa in assists. She has 2,061, 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.