Hawkeyes Open Big Ten Play At Home

Sept. 24, 2008

This Week ? The University of Iowa volleyball team takes a five-match winning streak into Big Ten play this weekend. The Hawkeyes open conference play inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena against No. 18 Wisconsin Friday night at 7 p.m. Iowa will then take on Northwestern Saturday at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $3 for adults and $2 for groups of 15 or more. Children 18 and under along with University of Iowa students are admitted free. In addition, any fan presenting a football ticket to Saturday’s game against Northwestern will be admitted free to both volleyball matches this weekend.

Hawkeyes on the Web ? Fans can follow Hawkeye volleyball on hawkeyesports.com, where Gametracker, live audio and video will be available throughout the season.

Live audio coverage will be available for the remainder of the season. Live streaming video can be found on hawkeyesports.com for all 13 home matches. Gametracker will be available for all 13 home matches and for select road matches. Check hawkeyesports.com for live stats availability.

Audio, video and Gametracker links can be found on the volleyball schedule page of hawkeyesports.com.

Scouting Wisconsin ? The 18th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers are 10-2 and have won six of its previous seven matches. The Badgers went 2-1 last weekend, knocking off American University and Marquette, but fell to Oregon State.

Brittney Dolgner leads the team with 147 kills, while Audra Jeffers has 108 kills with a team-high .372 attack percentage and also leads the team with 53 total blocks. Nikki Klingsporn and Janelle Gabrielsen split the setting duties with 279 and 236 assists, respectively. Kim Kuzma has a team-best 180 digs.

Iowa trails in the all-time series, 17-39-1. Last season, Wisconsin defeated Iowa in four sets in Iowa City, but swept the Hawkeyes in Madison.

Scouting Northwestern ? The Northwestern Wildcats are 6-5. Last weekend, the Wildcats defeated both Georgetown and Virginia in five sets before falling to fourth-ranked UCLA in four sets.

Chelsy Hyser has a team-best 131 kills while Sabel Moffett leads the team with a .388 attack percentage and 49 total blocks.. Elyse Glab is the team’s primary setter with 436 assists. Kate Nobilio has amassed 222 digs this season to lead the Wildcats.

Iowa trails in the all-time series, 23-32-1. Iowa lost a three-set match in Evanston and a four-set match in Iowa City last season against the Wildcats.

Challenge Champions ? Iowa swept Portland (25-14, 25-15,25-14), DePaul (25-13, 25-20, 25-19) and Tulsa (25-12, 25-11,25-21) last weekend to claim the 2008 Hawkeye-Holiday Inn Challenge championship.

Senior Catherine Smale led the Hawkeyes against Portland with 10 kills, while junior Megan Schipper added nine. As a team, the Hawkeyes hit .378 and held the Pilots to a -.045 attack percentage.

The Hawkeyes hit .387 as a team against DePaul and committed only seven hitting errors in the match. Smale once again paced the Hawkeyes with 15 kills, while Schipper poured in another 10.

Iowa dominated Tulsa in the championship match, out-hitting the Golden Hurricane (.386-.087) and collected nine blocks to Tulsa’s three.

Schipper led the way, collecting 14 kills and a career-high .545 attack percentage. Smale also had 10 kills.

Plenty on the All-Tournament Team ? Senior Catherine Smale was named the Hawkeye-Holiday Inn Challenge Most Valuable Player after leading the team with 35 kills and also tallied a .351 attack percentage and 14 digs. Senior Emily Hiza was named Best Libero, collecting a team-best 36 digs and six service aces. Junior Megan Schipper and sophomore Aimee Huffman were also named to the all-tournament team. Schipper had a career weekend, recording 33 kills with an eye-popping .483 attack percentage along with 17 digs. Huffman had 20 kills with a staggering .548 attack percentage, eight assists, 11 digs and five total blocks.

Bring Out the Broom ? The Hawkeyes have swept their last four opponents (Drake, Portland, DePaul, Tulsa), which an Iowa squad hasn’t accomplished since the 2000 season. Iowa knocked off Texas Southern, Oakland Drake and Illinois in straight sets during a six-match winning streak in 2000.

Hawkeyes in National Stats ? As a team, the Hawkeyes rank 28th in the country in attack percentage (.269). Iowa also ranks 70th in kills per set (13.17) and 88th in win-loss percentage (.667).

Where They Stand in the Big Ten ? Junior Megan Schipper ranks fifth in the Big Ten in service aces per set (15 total, 0.36 per set) and 10th in total points per set (143 kills, 15 service aces, two solo blocks, 16 block assists, 168 total points, 4.0 per set). Senior Kiley Fister is sixth in assists per set (391 total, 9.77 per set) while senior Emily Hiza is seventh in digs per set (131 total, 3.64 per set). Senior Catherine Smale ranks eighth in kills per set (147 total, 3.50 per set).

Tough Schedule in `08 ? Six Iowa opponents are ranked in the latest AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 poll.. One additional teams is 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. 12), Wisconsin (No. 18), Purdue (No. 19), Illinois (No. 20) and Michigan (No. 21). Iowa State is receiving votes.

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: 3,795, 4th, (3rd, 4,128)
Service Aces: 90, T-12th, (11th, 99)

Catherine Smale
Kills: 1,082, 12th, (11th, 1,120)
Digs: 888, 16th, (15th, 914)

Becky Walters
Attack Percentage: .262, 2nd, (1st, .276)

Emily Hiza
Digs: 1,641, 2nd, (1st, 1,931)

Complete Release in PDF Format Get Acrobat Reader

thhh.jpg