Sept. 15, 2007
IOWA CITY – The University of Iowa volleyball team defeated the College of Charleston, 3-0, Saturday night to claim the 2007 Hawkeye-Holiday Inn Challenge championship. Freshman Megan Eskew was named the tournament’s MVP while redshirt freshman Becky Walters, sophomore Megan Schipper and junior Emily Hiza were also named to the all-tournament team.
“I thought this was a good way to end the tournament,” Head Coach Cindy Fredrick said. “We wanted to come out in a more dominating fashion tonight, and I thought we accomplished that. Megan (Eskew) had an awesome tournament. She was everywhere on the court for us and I thought was very deserving of the MVP award.”
Eskew led the Hawkeye attack with 15 kills and a career-high .464 attack percentage. Schipper added 14 kills and a career-high .429 attack percentage. Walters had seven kills, two solo blocks and four block assists while Hiza had 15 digs.
Iowa trailed most of game one until knotting the score at 18-18. A small 4-1 run gave the Hawkeyes a 22-19 lead that eventually became a 27-21 advantage after an Aimee Huffman kill. A College of Charleston service error along with a Walters kill brought up game point and another Cougar error gave Iowa a 1-0 advantage.
Both teams traded points to start the second game until the Hawkeyes went on a 7-3 run to take a 17-13 lead. Iowa maintained its lead until the Cougars clawed back to within three points at 27-24, but a College of Charleston error along with a Huffman ace and a Catherine Smale kill gave the Hawkeyes a 2-0 lead.
The Hawkeyes fought back from a 10-3 deficit in game three to tie the match at 14-14 and again at 16-16. Iowa took a 17-16 advantage on an Eskew kill and never trailed after. The Hawkeyes held a commanding 28-20 lead, but the Cougars continued to fight, going on a small 3-0 run to make the score 28-23. A Cougar service error coupled with a Hiza kill ended the match to give the Hawkeyes the tournament title.
Iowa opens Big Ten play Friday against Indiana at 7 p.m. in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
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