Aug. 26, 2007
IOWA CITY – The University of Iowa volleyball team recorded its first win of the season with a 3-1 victory over Marquette in the Hawkeye Challenge Sunday. Redshirt freshman Becky Walters, sophomore Megan Schipper and junior Kiley Fister were named to the all-tournament team.
Walters led the Hawkeye attack with 11 kills and also tallied two solo blocks along five block assists. Junior Laura Kremer also had 11 block assists. As a team, Iowa blocked 20 shots in the four-game match.
Iowa fought back from a 10-5 deficit in game one to knot the score at 19-19 in game one. The Golden Eagles took a 25-23 lead after a service ace and the Hawkeyes were forced to take a timeout. Iowa responded out of the break, forcing three Marquette errors to take a 26-25 lead. After a Marquette kill evened the score at 26-26, the Hawkeyes used another Golden Eagle error and a double block from Kremer and senior Stacy Vitali to take a two-point lead. Yet another Marquette attacking error gave Iowa a 1-0 lead in the match.
Game two remained within three points the entire way until Marquette was able to gain a 30-27 advantage to even the match.
Marquette jumped out to a 16-10 lead in game three, but Iowa responded with a 6-1 run capped by two Walters kills to bring the Hawkeyes within two points at 21-19. After a Marquette attacking error and an Iowa service error tied the game at 24-24, the Hawkeyes went on a five-point run to bring up game point at 29-24. Marquette chipped away to make the score 29-27, but a Signe Mueller ace ended the game.
Iowa finished game four on a 9-0 run to earn its first victory of the season. Iowa trailed Marquette, 19-15 midway through game four, but kills by Schipper and freshman Megan Eskew along with a Kiley Fister service ace brought the Hawkeyes within one point a 20-19. Iowa took the lead after the first of four blocks assisted by Walters and never looked back.
The Hawkeyes return to action Friday in Greeley, CO, at the Northern Colorado Tournament. Iowa will face UC Riverside at 3 p.m. central time.
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