Sept. 20, 2008
- Hawkeye-Holiday Inn Challenge Central
- Iowa and the Big Ten Network
- Big Ten Network: Free Hawkeye Video
- 24 Hawkeyes to Watch
- Iowa volleyball wallpaper
- Iowa `Volleyblog’
IOWA CITY – The University of Iowa volleyball team swept DePaul, 25-13, 25-20, 25-19, Saturday afternoon in the Hawkeye-Holiday Inn Challenge. Iowa is now 2-0 in the Challenge and will face Tulsa for the championship Saturday night at 7 p.m.
“You have to give a lot of credit to our setters today,” Head Coach Sharon Dingman said. “Our hitters had a very successful match, and a lot of the credit goes to our setters. Our team fought hard through the second (set) to push back and we are very happy to get the win. We are excited to play Tulsa tonight and it will be a tough match.”
The Hawkeyes (7-4 overall) hit .387 as a team and only committed seven attack errors in the match. Senior Catherine Smale paced the Hawkeyes with 15 kills and a .414 attack percentage. Junior Megan Schipper added 10 kills (.474 attack percentage) while sophomore Aimee Huffman had eight kills with a .538 attack percentage. Senior Kiley Fister turned in a double-double with 31 assists and 10 digs while freshman Mallory Husz tallied three block assists. Senior Emily Hiza registered a career-high six service aces, five of which came in the first set alone.
Iowa came out swinging in the first set, collecting 11 kills with no hitting errors (.500 attack percentage). Smale had four kills on five swings while Schipper collected three.
The Hawkeyes built a 10-4 lead after the teams traded points to start the match. Iowa then used a 9-3 run to take a 17-9 lead and closed the set with a 9-2 surge to take the early advantage.
DePaul put up a late fight in the second set, but the Hawkeyes prevailed, 25-20.
Iowa stormed out to a 7-2 lead in the set, but DePaul chipped away, and eventually came within one point at 17-16, forcing a Hawkeye timeout. Schipper smoked a kill after the pause for an 18-16 lead, which spurned a 4-1 run, making the score 22-17. Smale collected a kill for set point at 24-20 and a Fister tip gave Iowa the set.
The Hawkeyes used 17 kills with only three errors (.424) to win the match after a 25-19 win in the third set. Smale registered seven of her 15 kills in the frame.
Set four started close, with ties at one, two and four before Iowa took the lead for good at 5-4. The Hawkeyes went on a 10-4 run later in the set for an 18-11 lead, but a short 5-0 DePaul surge brought the Blue Demons within two at 18-16. Iowa responded with a 6-2 run for match point at 24-19 and a Smale kill wrapped up the match.
The championship match (Iowa vs. Tulsa) of the Hawkeye-Holiday Inn Challenge will be broadcast live on both hawkeyesports.com and AM-800 KXIC.