Sept. 26, 2007
IOWA CITY – The University of Iowa volleyball team was defeated by No. 12 Minnesota, 3-0 Wednesday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Minnesota improves to 10-3 overall and 3-0 in the Big Ten while Iowa drops to 8-5 overall and 0-3 in conference play.
Sophomore Megan Schipper returned to action after missing the first two Big Ten matches with an injury. She led the team with 11 kills while junior Laura Kremer had 10 kills along with three total blocks. Freshman Katie Kennedy also had three total blocks while junior Kiley Fister had a team-high 32 assists.
Iowa lost a hard-fought first game, 30-24. Minnesota went on a 5-0 run to take an 8-4 lead and never trailed after. Iowa came within one point at 10-9 after a Megan Eskew ace, but another 6-2 Golden Gopher run gave them a 15-11 advantage. The Hawkeyes battled back once again within one point at 20-19, but couldn’t knot the score as Minnesota eventually took a 24-19 lead. The Golden Gophers maintained their lead to take a 1-0 match lead.
The Hawkeyes took an early 2-0 lead in game two, but Minnesota tied the score at two and three before taking the lead for good at 4-3. Minnesota went on a 10-1 run later in the game to take a 21-11 lead and finished the match on a 9-6 run to win game two, 30-17, as the teams headed to the locker room.
Iowa battled through game three, but couldn’t get the win, falling 32-30. Minnesota stormed out to an early 7-3 lead and stretched the advantage to 13-9, but the Hawkeyes fought back to eventually tie the game at 23. The Hawkeyes tied the score three more times at 24, 26, 27 and eventually took a 28-27 lead off a Catherine Smale kill. The Golden Gophers tied the score once again at 28 and brought up match point on the next rally at 29-28, but the Hawkeyes used a Kremer kill to knot the score at 29. Minnesota had its second match point at 30-29, but Schipper smacked a kill for a tie at 30. Two-straight Minnesota kills, however, silenced the Hawkeye comeback and sealed the win on the next two rallies.
Iowa returns to action Friday against No. 11 Michigan. First serve is set for 7 p.m. at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
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