Oct. 19, 2007
East Lansing, MI – The University of Iowa volleyball team dropped a three-game match at Michigan State Friday night. Iowa falls to 9-11 overall and 1-8 in Big Ten play.
Junior Laura Kremer and sophomore Megan Schipper led the Hawkeyes with 10 kills each. Both Kremer and Schipper finished with impressive hitting percentages at .368 and .310, respectively. Kremer and freshman Aimee Huffman each had four total blocks.
Michigan State took game one, 30-24. Both teams struggled offensively, with the Spartans recording a .146 hitting percentage to Iowa’s .028 percentage.
Iowa took an early 4-2 lead off of three Michigan State errors along with a Kremer kill. The Spartans tied the game at four, five and six before taking the lead for good at 7-6. Iowa fought back with a 9-2 run late in the game to make the score 26-22, but the Spartans closed on their own 6-2 surge to take the opening game.
The Hawkeyes dropped a tough second game, 30-26. Four kills along with a .333 hitting percentage from Schipper wasn’t enough, as the Spartans tallied 36 kills with a .326 hitting percentage for the win.
Game two stayed close for most of the game, with 14 ties and seven lead changes. Both teams traded points until Iowa took a 10-9 lead and kept the advantage until a tie at 15. The game stayed within one point for 13-straight rallies before Michigan State took a two-point lead at 23-21. The Spartans then went on a 5-1 run for a 27-22 lead. Two kills from Schipper along with attacks from freshman Katie Wessels and sophomore Christina Meister brought the Hawkeyes within three at 29-26, but the Spartans were able to put away their third game point opportunity for the win.
The Spartans closed the match with a 30-25 win in game three. The game remained close to start, with ties at three, four and seven, before the Spartans took an 8-7 lead. Michigan State stretched its lead to 11-8 before a 3-0 Hawkeye run tied the game at 11. Michigan State then went on a 9-2 surge for a commanding 24-13 advantage. The Hawkeyes battled near the end of the game, using a Spartan error along with blocks from sophomore Megan Eskew and Kremer along with a Kremer kill for a 28-24 score. The Spartans managed two points in the next three rallies for the win.
Iowa will face Northwestern at 7 p.m. Saturday in Evanston.