Hawkeyes Fall to Badgers in 5 Sets

Stats | Boxscore

Oct. 13, 2012

Box Score

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IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa volleyball team fell in five sets to Wisconsin on Saturday night (21-25, 25-14, 18-25, 25-21, 10-15). The match was played on Mediacom Court at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The win improves the Badgers’ record to 15-6 overall and 3-5 in Big Ten play; the Hawkeyes fall to 10-11 and 2-6 in league action.

“I thought we played well, but we did not execute our game plan in the fifth set,” said head coach Sharon Dingman. “We got away from our serving game plan in the final set. We let them get on a run and didn’t do what we needed to.”

Bethany Yeager registered a team-high 20 digs. The junior passes Kari Hamel for fifth all-time in program history with 1,388 in her career. Classmate Nikki Dailey paced all with a season-best 53 assists and added 11 digs for her 14th double-double of the season. Sophomore Alex Lovell notched her eighth double-double with a team-best 19 kills and 11 digs. Junior Chante’ Thompson (11), junior Rachael Bedell (10) and sophomore Alessandra Dietz (10) recorded double-digit kills. Senior Allison Straumann tallied a career-best 16 digs and sophomore Kari Mueller equaled a season-high with 10 digs. Sophomore Erin Leppek added a season-high four kills.

Wisconsin trailed in the opening set, 6-5, before using a 5-1 run to grab a 10-7 lead it would never relinquish. The Badgers hit .200 in the frame, while Iowa turned in a .125 attack percentage. Dietz paced the home team with four kills. Dailey turned in 11 assists and Yeager added seven digs.

The Hawkeyes trailed 4-2 in the second game before a 7-1 run put them ahead, 9-5. Leading 13-11, Iowa took control of the set with a 10-1 run to push its advantage to 23-12. The league foes exchanged the next four points, giving the home team the 25-14 set victory. The Hawkeyes hit .440 in the frame and limited the Badgers to a .100 hitting percentage. Lovell and Dailey both posted set-highs. Lovell turned in five kills and Dailey led all with 12 assists and five digs.

Following the intermission, Wisconsin came out swinging in the third set. The Badgers hit .294, while limiting Iowa to a .128 attack percentage, to win the frame, 25-18. Lovell (four kills) and Dailey (11 assists) equaled set-highs.

The Hawkeyes answered, jumping out to a 9-4 lead in the fourth frame. The visitors used a 6-2 run to close the gap to one at 11-10. Iowa never relinquished the lead on its way to a 25-21 set victory. Lovell paced all with five kills. Dailey turned in a set-best 13 assists and Mueller added a set-high five digs.

In the decisive set, Wisconsin opened a 6-3 lead to force a Hawkeye timeout. The Badgers never looked back after grabbing the early advantage, winning the frame, 15-10. The visitors hit .333 in the set, while Iowa hit .103.

Iowa returns to action on Wednesday night, hosting No. 3 Nebraska on Mediacom Court at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Hawkeyes and Huskers will meet at 7 p.m. The contest, Iowa’s annual Breast Cancer Awareness Match, can be seen live on Mediacom and BTN.com.

“They are very good,” said Dingman. “They are physical, but we are going to compete at a high level. We will work on our serve and pass game and try and put pressure on them.”