Sept. 7, 2007
Des Moines, IA – The University of Iowa volleyball team scratched out a tough, 3-1 win over Drake Friday in the Hampton Inn State of Iowa Volleyball Challenge. Iowa battled back after dropping the first game for its fifth win of the season.
“Drake came out fired up, you have to hand it to them,” Head Coach Cindy Fredrick said. “The home crowd was fired up as well, but our team did a great job responding. I thought Megan (Eskew) fought hard all night and Kiley (Fister) kept us in there as well.”
Leading the way for Iowa was sophomore Megan Schipper, who tallied a career-high 19 kills with a .356 attack percentage. Redshirt freshman Becky Walters along with freshman Megan Eskew recorded 11 kills. Freshman Aimee Huffman had 24 assists while junior Kiley Fister set up 22 assists. Junior Emily Hiza also had 29 digs in the win.
Iowa out-blocked Drake, 14-3, led by Walters and junior Laura Kremer, who each had six block assists. Kremer also added one solo block.
Drake took an early 1-0 lead in the match after winning game one by a 30-27 margin. The game remained with 15 ties and seven lead changes. The Hawkeyes took a 9-8 lead in game one and kept the advantage until Drake took a 16-15 lead. The game knotted up at scores of 22, 23, 24, 25 and 27 before Drake went on a 3-0 run to win the game.
Iowa tied the match at one game each after a 30-26 win in game two. Eskew and Schipper scored Iowa’s first nine points in the game for a 9-6 lead. The Hawkeyes kept the lead until a 9-2 Bulldog run tied the game at 19-19. Game two remained close with six ties after the run, but Iowa finished the game on a 5-1 run to tie the match.
The Hawkeyes took a 2-1 lead in the match after another close game, with Iowa coming out on top, 30-25. Iowa took an early 7-3 lead, but a 5-1 Bulldog run tied the game at 8-8. Eight ties and six lead changes later, the Hawkeyes took an 18-17 lead off a block by Walters and Huffman. Iowa never trailed after that, stretching its lead to 26-19 off a 7-3 run. Schipper scored Iowa’s final three points of the game to bring up game point and a Drake service error gave the Hawkeyes the win in game three.
Game four stayed within two points until Iowa went on a 13-6 run to take an 18-11 lead. Drake battled back to bring the game within two points at 21-19, but another Hawkeye run, this time a 9-4 spurt, gave Iowa a commanding 28-22 lead. Drake then went on a 7-0 run to tie game four at 28-28. Schipper followed with a kill to bring up match point, but a Drake kill tied the game again at 29-29. Huffman recorded a kill to give Iowa its second match point, but an Iowa service error brought up another tie at 30-30. Drake took a 31-30 lead, but the Hawkeyes responded with three-straight points off two Huffman kills and a Drake error to wrap up the match.
Iowa returns to action Saturday when they face intra-state rival Iowa State at 12:30 and No. 21 LSU at 5:30. Iowa’s match against Iowa State will be the second event in this year’s Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk series.
“Iowa State has a great team, and LSU is very tough,” Fredrick said. “We did some nice things when we needed to tonight, and we need to carry those things over into two very tough matches tomorrow.”
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