Big Ten Road Travels Through Indiana

Nov. 2, 2010

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THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa volleyball team travels to the state of Indiana to face Purdue and Indiana this weekend. The Hawkeyes visit West Lafayette to face Purdue Friday at 6 p.m. (CT). Iowa concludes its road trip Saturday with a 6 p.m. (CT) contest vs. Indiana in Bloomington, IN.

IOWA ON BIGTENNETWORK.COM
Friday’s contest at Purdue will be streamed live on BigTenNetwork.com. Fans interested in a live audio and video stream should visit BigTenNetwork.com and create a personal profile page. The Big Ten Network is committed to providing Big Ten fans with the best and most coverage of the schools and teams they are most passionate about. BigTenNetwork.com is a subscription based service.

HAWKEYES ONLINE
Fans can follow Hawkeye volleyball on hawkeyesports.com, where play-by-play voice of the Hawkeyes Jordan Loperena will call the action live from the campuses of Purdue and Indiana. Both matches will be broadcast live with audio via Hawkeye All-Access, a subscription service committed to providing quality coverage of Hawkeye athletic events.

OFFICIAL IOWA VOLLEYBALL BLOG – LIVE STATS
Live stats and live blogging will be available for every match throughout the season. A member of the Iowa volleyball staff will offer scoring updates and interactive content from the Official Iowa Volleyball Blog. Former Hawkeye Katie Kennedy operates the blog for Iowa’s home games and manager Melissa Brockway hosts the blog on Hawkeye road trips. Fans can also follow the action with live stats. Visit the Iowa volleyball page at hawkeyesports.com for links to live stats, blogging and Gametracker.

PURDUE
The Boilermakers are led by eighth-year head coach Dave Shondell and sophomore Ariel Turner, an outside hitter who ranks third in the Big Ten averaging 3.89 kills per set. Purdue leads the all-time series, 44-19. The teams split the season series in 2009 with each team defending its home court. Purdue swept Iowa 3-0 in the first meeting this season in Iowa City (10/3).

INDIANA
The Hoosiers are led by fourth-year head coach Sherry Dunbar and senior middle blocker Ashley Benson. Indiana’s hometown player ranks second in the Big Ten in hitting percentage (.420). Indiana leads the all-time series, 34-26. Iowa defeated Indiana 3-2 in Iowa City in the teams’ first meeting this season (10/1). The Hawkeyes have not won in Indiana since topping the Hoosiers 3-0 in 2006.

500 CLUB
Senior Becky Walters picked up her 500th career kill Saturday vs. Northwestern. The redshirt senior entered the contest with 497 career kills and finished the match with a team-high eight kills. Walters has recorded a career-high 184 kills in 2010, three more than her previous career high (181) set in 2009.

CLEANING THE FLOOR – IT’S A ROOKIE JOB
Freshman libero Bethany Yeager is on pace to top the record for digs by an Iowa freshman. Since 1982, only Emily Hiza has led the team in digs as a freshman (472, 2005). Yeager has 347 digs through 21 matches and is pace for 479 saves. She has picked up at least 20 digs seven times this season, including 24 vs. Wisconsin (10/22), 32 vs. Indiana (10/1), 21 vs. Saint Louis (9/4), 33 vs. Creighton (9/4), 20 vs. Wake Forest (9/3), 21 vs. Green Bay (8/29) and 23 vs. Southern Illinois (8/28).

DISHING THE DAILEY DIME
Freshman Nikki Dailey came off the bench to dish a team-high 21 assists against No. 24 Northwestern (10/30). Dailey’s assist total was the second highest of her career. She ranks second on the team averaging 3.08 assists per set.

COMPLETE EFFORT
Despite not having one of her better offensive days against Northwestern (10/31), freshman Rachael Bedell was able to contribute defensively by stuffing three blocks and picking up a career-best eight digs against the Wildcats. The Plano, TX, native has started 10-of-12 conference matches, including the last five, and ranks fourth on the team in total kills (1145) and third in total blocks (42)

SERVING UP A RECORD
Senior Becky Walters has 31 service aces in 21 matches. At her current rate, she will finish with 43 service aces, the highest total since Jenny Rees served 55 aces in 1989. Since the inception of rally scoring in 2001, the school record for service aces in a season is 36, set by Sara Meyermann in 2001. Walters ranks fourth in the conference averaging 0.40 aces per game. Iowa’s middle blocker entered the season with 15 career service aces but has more than doubled that total with 31 in 2010.

FOUR ON THE FLOOR
The Hawkeyes have started four freshmen in a single match three times this season, more than any other Big Ten team. Rachael Bedell, Nikki Dailey, Chante’ Thompson and Bethany Yeager have started at Northern Illinois (9/19), vs. Minnesota (10/6) and at Northwestern (10/8). Yeager has not missed a set while starting every match at the libero position. Dailey has eight starts under her belt and OH Rachael Bedell has started 14 matches, including the last five. Chante’ Thompson made her first career start at Northern Illinois and contributed a career-best six kills against the Huskies.

WHO STARTED IT?
Three Hawkeyes have started every match this season. Senior MB Becky Walters, junior OH Megan Eskew and freshman libero Bethany Yeager have started each of Iowa’s 20 contests. Walters leads Iowa in kills (184), blocks (71) and service aces (31); Yeager leads Iowa with 347 digs and Eskew leads the team in total attacks (626).

HAWKEYE DOUBLE-DOUBLES
Six Hawkeyes have recorded double-doubles this season, but none more than junior Paige Stevens. Iowa’s setter has posted seven double-doubles, all of which were of the assist-dig variety. Stevens’ last double-double (25 assists, 12 digs) came in Iowa’s five-set loss to Illinois (10/23). Other Hawkeyes to record double-doubles include Megan Eskew (5), Nikki Dailey (3), Mallory Husz (1), Tiffany Nilges (1) and Becky Walters (1).

DIGGIN’ IT OUT
The Hawkeyes rank third in the Big Ten in digs per set. Iowa (15.05) is led by freshman libero Bethany Yeager, who picks up 4.45 digs per set, the fourth best total in the conference. Yeager recorded a career-best 33 digs against Creighton (9/4), the second highest single-match total in the Big Ten this season and the sixth-highest total in program history.

GOING THE DISTANCE
Six times this season Iowa has played into the fifth set. The Hawkeyes have been victorious in four of the six matches. The Hawkeyes rallied from two sets down to top Southern Illinois (8/28), nearly lost a two-set advantage before topping Creighton (9/4) and rallied from a 2-1 deficit to beat Saint Louis (9/4). The Hawkeyes have lost five-set decisions at Drake (9/14) and vs. Wisconsin (10/22). Iowa was 2-1 in five-set matches last season.

PROGRAM FIRST
For the first time in program history, the Iowa volleyball team started 3-0 in consecutive seasons. Iowa swept through the Hawkeye Challenge to post its 3-0 record this year. In 2009, the Hawkeyes matched the best start in program history by winning their first six matches. The Hawkeyes’ 5-1 start matches the second-best start in program history. Only the 1978, 1988 and 2009 teams started the season with a better record (6-0).