Sept. 24, 2010
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The University of Iowa volleyball team dropped its conference opener at Michigan, 3-0, tonight inside Cliff Keen Arena on the campus of the University of Michigan.
“We have to have everyone on the floor ready to play each match and tonight we didn’t have that,” said Head Coach Sharon Dingman. “We don’t have a competitive rotation right now. We’re searching and we better find it quick. We have a lot to figure out in the next 24 hours.”
Michigan grabbed nine of the match’s first 10 points to gain control of its opening set victory. Becky Walters and Tiffany Nilges peppered in a couple kills apiece in the frame, but the Wolverines were able to attack at a .333 clip and rolled to a 25-11 win.
Michigan stayed hot and built an early 7-4 lead in set two before the Iowa offense began showing signs of life. Following a Dingman timeout, Iowa packaged together five kills and played even with the Wolverines until the score reached 14-11. The Wolverines answered with a three-point run to stretch their lead before Iowa battled back to tie the score, 20-20. Two kills from Walters and a set-dump by Nikki Dailey eventually gave Iowa its first lead of the night, 24-23, but Michigan was able to fight off set-points on two occasions and the Wolverines ended the set with three straight points to grab the narrow, 28-26, win.
“We played better in that set,” Dingman said. “We competed harder, we served better and we made them uncomfortable. We just didn’t finish.”
| Iowa vs. Creighton | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
| Iowa (4-1) | 11 | 26 | 11 |
| Michigan (11-1) | 25 | 28 | 25 |
| Statistical Leaders | |||
| Kills: Becky Walters (UI) 8 | Hunt (UM) 11 | |||
| Assists: Nikki Dailey (UI) 13 | Zimmerman (UM) 36 | |||
| Digs: Bethany Yeager (UI) 10 | Zimmerman (UM) 11 |
Trailing 2-0 following the intermission, Iowa was unable to establish any momentum in the third set and Michigan prevailed, 25-11, to win the match, 3-0
Iowa returns to action tomorrow in East Lansing, Mich. The Hawkeyes face Michigan State at 6 p.m. (CT) inside the Breslin Center. Visit hawkeyesports.com for links to live audio, live stats and the official Iowa volleyball blog.