Sparty Too Much for Iowa

Stats

Oct. 1, 2011

Box Score

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EAST LANSING, Mich. — The University of Iowa volleyball team fell to Michigan State 3-0 Saturday night inside Jenison Field House. Michigan native Alex Lovell led Iowa offensively with eight kills. Sophomores Nikki Dailey and Bethany Yeager paced Iowa with 24 assists and eight digs, respectively.

“We need to decide that we don’t want to get pushed around anymore,” head coach Sharon Dingman said following Iowa’s fourth straight loss. “Mal (Husz) always competes hard, but we need to see it from the entire lineup, not just from the seniors.”

Michigan State used a .565 attack percentage to cruise to a 25-14 win in the opening set. Iowa started strong with back-to-back kills from Lovell and Husz, but the Spartans used a pair of five-point runs to build a 16-7 lead and put the set out of reach.

Iowa responded and jumped to a 6-2 lead in the second frame, but was unable to maintain any momentum and eventually fell, 25-22. Lovell, Husz, Tiffany Nilges and Emily Yanny contributed kills during Iowa’s early run, but the Spartans battled back until the teams were tied, 13-13. After Michigan State used a 5-2 run to build a 21-16 lead, the Hawkeyes answered with four straight points to pull within one, 21-20. Husz and Nilges then countered a Sparty 3-0 run with a pair of kills before an attack error awarded Michigan State the set point and 2-0 match advantage.

Michigan State used its momentum from the end of the second set to cruise to a 25-12 win in the third frame. The Spartans attacked at a .456 clip to Iowa’s .119 average en route to the three-match sweep.

Iowa returns to the court Friday, October, 7 against Indiana. The Hawkeyes and Hoosiers play at 7 p.m. inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa.