Sept. 9, 2008
IOWA CITY – This Week ? The University of Iowa volleyball team travels to Ames, IA, this weekend to compete in the Iowa State Tournament. The Hawkeyes will take on intra-state rival Iowa State Friday at 6:30 p.m. before facing Drake (10 a.m.) and Xavier (4:30 p.m.) Saturday.
Hawkeyes on the Web ? Fans can follow the Iowa State Tournament this weekend at cyclones.com, where live stats will be available on the volleyball schedule page.
Live video will also be available for Friday’s match against Iowa State for an $8.95 fee.
Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk Series ? Friday’s match in Ames will be the first event in the fifth-annual Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk Series. Two points will be awarded to the winner.
Iowa State claimed last year’s Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk Series title with an 18-9 win. Iowa walked away with the Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk trophy in 2004-05 and 2006-07 while Iowa State took the honors in 2005-06 and 2007-08.
Scouting Iowa State ? The Iowa State Cyclones are 5-2 overall and receiving votes in the latest AVCA Division I Coaches Poll. The Cyclones host Northern Iowa Wednesday before taking on Iowa.
Jen Malcom leads the nation in attack percentage at .518 while Victoria Henson has 94 kills. Kaylee Manns is the team’s primary setter with 274 assists and Mary Bisenius had 127 digs. Malcom also has a team-best 39 blocks.
Iowa leads the all-time series, 21-18. The Cyclones defeated Iowa in three sets last season at the Hampton Inn/State of Iowa College Volleyball Challenge, hosted by Drake.
Scouting Xavier ? The Xavier Musketeers are 4-1 overall and host Western Kentucky Tuesday before traveling to Iowa.
Hillary Otte leads the team with 71 kills and a .377 attack percentage. Claire Paszkiewicz has a team-best 151 kills while Ruth Kelly has 50 digs. Michelle Matia has a team-high 12 total blocks.
This is the first meeting between the two teams.
Scouting Drake ? The Drake Bulldogs are 7-1 overall.
Angela Bys leads the team with 112 kills while Michelle Reidy has a team-best .325 attack percentage. Chelsea Lauersdorf leads the team in assists (299) and digs (71). Michelle Reidy has 37 total blocks.
Iowa leads the all-time series, 20-11-1. Drake knocked off Iowa in four sets last season in Des Moines.
Hawkeyes Rebound For 2-1 Finish in Colorado ? Iowa picked up wins over Tennessee (25-18, 27-25, 22-25, 25-22) and Virginia (15-25, 20-25, 21-25, 21-25, 15-9) last weekend at the Pioneer Classic, hosted by the University of Denver. The Hawkeyes fell to host-school Denver in three sets (22-25, 23-25, 21-25).
Iowa opened play with a win over the Lady Volunteers. Senior Catherine Smale led the Hawkeyes with a double-double, recording 21 kills and 13 digs. Sophomore Megan Schipper was close behind with 20 kills while senior Kiley Fister tallied 48 assists. Senior Emily Hiza collected 17 digs in her come state of Colorado.
The Hawkeyes struggled Saturday morning, falling to Denver. Senior Laura Kremer paced the Hawkeyes with 10 kills and a .529 attack percentage while Smale and Schipper added six kills. Fister had a team-high 22 digs and eight digs.
Iowa bounced back with a thrilling, five-set win over Virginia to close the tournament. Kremer and Schipper had a team-best 14 kills with Kremer also recording three total blocks and a .375 attack percentage. Smale tallied 12 kills while sophomore Katie Kennedy added 10 kills, a .381 attack percentage and six total blocks.
Three Hawkeyes Land on All-Tournament Team ? Seniors Laura Kremer, Kiley Fister and Emily Hiza were named to the Pioneer Classic all-tournament team last weekend.
Kremer collected 32 kills with a .391 attack percentage and also added 10 total blocks (four solo, six assists). Fister led the team with 119 assists and was second on the team with 30 digs. Hiza was named Libero of the Tournament after digging 40 balls in the three matches.
Kennedy Puts Up a Wall ? Sophomore Katie Kennedy led the Hawkeyes last weekend with 13 total blocks (one solo, 12 assists).
The Iowa City native collected five block assists against Tennessee, two against Denver and five more assists along with one solo against Virginia.
Kennedy leads the team with 19 total blocks (three solo, 16 assists).
Stats Don’t Lie ? If the Hawkeyes are able to record more kills, a higher attack percentage or more assists than their opponents, chances are they will come away with a win.
Iowa is 3-0 when it records more kills, assists and a higher attack percentage than its opponents and 0-3 when the opposite occurs.
Tough Schedule in `08 ? Six Iowa opponents are ranked in the latest AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 poll.. Two additional teams are also listed as receiving votes. Iowa will also square off against 10 teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2007.
Opponents ranked include Penn State (No. 1), Minnesota (No. 11), Wisconsin (No. 14), Purdue (No. 15), Illinois (No. 17) and Michigan (No. 25). Teams receiving votes are Iowa State and Western Kentucky.
The 10 teams who played in the NCAA Tournament last year are Western Kentucky, Alabama, Iowa State, Xavier, Minnesota, Purdue, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State and Penn State, who also won the 2007 Big Ten and NCAA championship.
Climbing the Records Ladder ? Below is a list of where current Hawkeyes rank in different career school records. The number in parenthsees is the next place.
Kiley Fister
Assists: 3,633 – 4th, (3rd, 4,128)
Service Aces: 86 – T-13th, (12th, 87)
Catherine Smale
Kills: 1,013 – 14th, (13th, 1,059)
Digs: 839 – 17th, (16th, 885)
Becky Walters
Attack Percentage: .265 – 2nd, (1st, .276)
Emily Hiza
Digs: 1,562 – 4th, (3rd, 1,536)
Hilgenberg Transfers to Iowa ? Sophomore setter Mara Hilgenberg transferred to the University of Iowa from Indiana University this summer.
The Lake Forest, IL, native played in all 117 sets for Indiana as freshman in 2007. She led the team with 1,402 assists.
New Rules For `08 ? The NCAA has implemented some new rules that will go into effect for the 2008 season that reflect international volleyball rules.
The term “game” has been changed to “set.” Matches will still be the best of five “sets.”
The first four “sets” will also be played to 25 points instead of 30 points. The fifth set will still be played to 15 points.
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