Nov. 11, 2006
STATE COLLEGE, PA – The University of Iowa volleyball team was swept by the third-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions Saturday night at Rec Hall in State College, PA. Iowa (13-15, 2-14) fell by scores of 30-17, 30-18 and 30-20.
The Hawkeyes were out-gunned by the blistering Penn State attack, which recorded a .451 attack percentage. Iowa hit .114 on the night.
Senior middle blocker Jen Barcus was the bright spot for Iowa, recording a team-high 10 kills and a .348 attack percentage. Megan Schipper recorded seven kills, while Catherine Smale had six.
The Hawkeyes fell into an early 8-3 hole in game one, then clawed their way back into the game by scoring seven of the next 11 points to cut the lead to four. The run was highlighted by a three-point stretch led by Melanie Meister who got a kill and two blocks.
The Nittany Lions came roaring back after that, quickly re-establishing their lead and cruising to a 30-17 win.
Iowa kept game two close early on, trading points with Penn State and tying things up at 8-8 on a Nittany Lion service error. Penn State turned on the juice after that, outscoring Iowa 22-10 the rest of the game. A Megan Hodge block gave the Nittany Lions the 30-18 win.
Penn State was in control of game three from the outset, with Iowa’s last lead coming at 3-1 and final tie at 5-5. The Nittany Lions stretched their lead to 25-12 before Iowa came back with five of the next seven points. The deficit was too great, however, and a Penn State block ended the final game at 30-20.
The Hawkeyes return to action next weekend with games at Wisconsin (Fri. 7 p.m.) and Minnesota (Sat. 7 p.m.).
MATCH SUMMARYIOWA 17 18 20No. 3 PSU 30 30 30