Sept. 14, 2013
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IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa volleyball recorded its third victory of the weekend against UIC 3-1 on Mediacom Court in Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Saturday night. With the win, the Hawkeyes move to 8-2 overall.
The Hawkeyes came out on fire using back-to-back kills from Alessandra Dietz and an Alyssa Klostermann kill to seize the momentum early in set one. Iowa used four, three point runs to extend its advantage to 17-7, led by Rachael Bedell, who notched three kills and a service ace. Alex Lovell contributed three kills to the drive, while Emily Yanny and Dietz added two apiece. The Hawkeyes went on to lead by as much as 14 in set one and used kills from Lovell and Yanny to post the 25-12 win.
The second set included five ties within the first 20 total points of the match before the Hawkeyes used a four-point rally to pull ahead. A Dietz kill, Grace Burns ace and Bedell kill fueled the run. Iowa never surrendered its advantage in set two en route to its 25-20 victory.
The Hawkeyes opened set three with a six point run keyed by a pair of Burns service aces and a kill apiece from Bedell and Dietz. However, the Flames fought back using several scoring drives to take the set from Iowa, 25-22.
The fourth set battle between Iowa and UIC contained 11 ties and six lead changes. It took extra points to decide the final victor, but it was the Hawkeyes who were able to close it out 28-26 to record the match win. Iowa was either trailing or tied with UIC until an Erin Radke kill broke a 23-23 tie. From there the Hawkeyes used an Erin Leppek service ace and kills from Bedell and Dietz to complete the comeback.
“I was really pleased because UIC obviously put a lot of stress on us in that fourth set,” head coach Sharon Dingman said. “We were down 21-19, and we just stayed steady and got to a place where we could make some plays to win the match.
We made plays. We weren’t waiting for them to make an error. We really stuck with our game plan, and people came up big. It’s a great win.”
Three Hawkeyes reached double digits in kills: Lovell (15), Bedell (14) and Dietz (12). Klostermann dished out a team-most 46 assists, which marks her season-high for the second consecutive match. Libero Bethany Yeager posted a team-high 18 digs, while Bedell and Yanny paced the squad with three blocks each.
For their efforts on the court throughout the weekend, Bedell and Klostermann were named to the Hawkeye Challenge All-Tournament Team. Iowa placed second in the tournament with a 3-1 mark, behind champion Ball State who went undefeated 4-0.
Iowa volleyball hits the road for a midweek match-up against Milwaukee on Tuesday, Sept. 17 before returning to Mediacom Court in Carver-Hawkeye Arena to take on Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk series foe Iowa State on Saturday, Sept. 21. The match is slated to begin at 7 p.m.