Oct. 6, 2007
Columbus, OH – The University of Iowa volleyball team dropped a hard-fought contest at Ohio State, 3-1 Saturday night. Iowa falls to 9-8 overall and 1-5 in Big Ten play.
Junior Catherine Smale led the Hawkeyes with 17 kills along with a .385 hitting percentage. Sophomore Megan Schipper added 13 kills along with six block assists while senior Stacy Vitali also had six block assists. Junior Laura Kremer tallied 11 kills with a .385 hitting percentage.
Ohio State took a 1-0 lead in the match after winning game one, 30-22. The Buckeyes grabbed an early 3-2 lead and never looked back, stretching the lead to 17-13 later in the game. Iowa tried to battle back with a Kiley Fister kill and a Schipper block to make the score 23-19, but the Buckeyes finished game one on a 7-3 run for the win.
Iowa fell behind 2-0 in the match after a 30-21 loss in game two. The game saw one tie at one point a piece before Ohio State took the lead for the entire second game. The Hawkeyes kept the deficit under five points until the Buckeyes used a 6-0 run to take a 22-12 advantage. Iowa’s front row of Kremer and Schipper tried to pull the Hawkeyes closer with three-straight blocks, but two quick Ohio State points gave the Buckeyes a 24-16 lead. Iowa took advantage of a Buckeye error to cut the lead to six, but Ohio State rattled off six points in the final nine rallies for the win.
The Hawkeyes fought back in game three with a 30-25 win. Iowa took an early 5-4 lead and maintained the advantage throughout the game. Iowa used two separate 3-0 runs to take a 13-8 lead and took a 22-13 lead later in the game after a block by Huffman and Fister capped a 4-0 Hawkeye run. The Buckeyes battled back with a 6-1 run late in the game to bring the score to 27-24, but the Hawkeyes scored the final three points off kills by Smale and Schipper along with an Ohio State error to win the game.
Iowa stormed out to a 10-5 lead in game four and increased its advantage to 17-11 after an Ohio State error. The Buckeyes then went on a 6-0 run to force a tie at 17. Kremer recorded two kills to give Iowa a 19-17 lead, but Ohio State fought back to knot the score at 19. Kremer once again blasted a kill to put Iowa up one at 20-19 and a Buckeye error gave Iowa a 21-19 lead. Another tie at 21 was broke by an Aimee Huffman kill, but Ohio State tied the game at 23 and took its first lead at 23-22. The Buckeyes closed game four on a furious 7-3 run to win the match.
The Hawkeyes return to action Friday when they host Illinois. Match time is scheduled for 7 p.m. inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
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