Oct. 5, 2007
State College, PA- The University of Iowa volleyball team was defeated by No. 3 Penn State, 3-0 Friday night at Rec Hall. Iowa falls to 9-7 overall and 1-4 in the Big Ten while Penn State improved its record to 13-2 overall and 5-0 in Big Ten play.
“We really ran into an awesome Penn State team tonight,” Head Coach Cindy Fredrick said. “They are a great team and we can use this match as a measuring tool. I am really proud of how we played in game three. They came out a little intimidated in the first two games, but really showed a lot of heart in game three. I thought our blocking, especially in the third game, was outstanding. We need to come out on our toes tomorrow night against Ohio State.”
The Hawkeyes were led by junior Laura Kremer and sophomore Megan Schipper who each had eight kills. Kremer added six block assists while junior Kiley Fister recorded four block assists. Iowa out-blocked the third-ranked Nittany Lions, 9.5-9.
Penn State grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the match with a 30-23 victory in game one. The game started with six ties before Iowa took an 8-6 lead off a Schipper kill. The Nittany Lions used a 6-0 run to take a 12-8 lead and didn’t trail after. The Hawkeyes fought back with two separate 3-0 runs late in the match to make the score 25-19 and 27-22, but couldn’t get any closer.
The Nittany Lions started game two with a 15-2 run to take a commanding lead. Penn State stretched its lead to 22-6 before a 3-0 Iowa run made the score 22-9. The Hawkeyes used two kills from both Schipper and freshman Megan Eskew to cap a 5-2 run for a 25-14 score, but Penn State finished on a 5-1 to take the game, 30-15.
Iowa battled in game three, but couldn’t come up with the win as Penn State came out on top, 30-24. The Hawkeyes took a 4-3 lead off a Kremer kill and maintained the advantage, stretching the lead to 15-10. Penn State then used a 6-1 run to tie the game at 16. Schipper recorded a kill to give Iowa a slight advantage at 17-16, but the Nittany Lions went on a 4-1 run to take their first lead of the game. Iowa took advantage of two Penn State errors to the game at 20, but Penn State finished on a 10-3 run to win the match.
Iowa will face Ohio State Saturday at 6 p.m. in Columbus.