Iowa Sweeps Rutgers, Notches 1st B1G Win

Oct. 31, 2015

Box Score

IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa volleyball team registered its first Big Ten win of the season with a 3-0 victory over Rutgers on Saturday night in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Hawkeyes improve to 11-14 on the season and 1-11 in Big Ten action with the win.

“It certainly feels good to get a Big Ten win,” said UI head coach Bond Shymansky. “It was a good overall team performance. We had a good team attitude and spirit, and we certainly needed that tonight to get that feeling back.”

Iowa came out swinging in the first set, recording 17 kills and a .275 attack percentage. With the score tied at 19, the Hawkeyes used a 6-2 run to seal the 25-20 game-one victory. Juniors Ashley Mariani (1) and Loxley Keala (2), and sophomore Taylr McNeil each added kills to the rally. Junior Lauren Brobst paced the Hawkeyes with six kills and a .500 hitting percentage in the set.

The Hawkeyes held on to the momentum in the second set. Down 11-10, Iowa used a pair of Scarlet Knight attack errors, a Brobst kill, and a block by Brobst and senior Mikaela Gunderson to take a 14-11 lead. The Hawkeyes used a late five-point swing to establish distance and coast to a 25-19 set-two win.

In the third set, the Hawkeyes used a 4-0 run to get out to a 14-10 lead. Mariani served up the rally, while sophomore Jess Janota added a pair of kills and a solo block. They controlled the tempo from there, using a late 7-1 run to pull away and eventually win the set, 25-20. Janota hit 1.000 in the set, recording five kills in five total attempts. Sophomore Annika Olsen led the defensive charge, registering 11 of her 26 total digs in the third set.

Brobst paced the Iowa offense with 11 kills, while McNeil added a season-high nine. Keala dished out a team-leading 34 assists, and Gunderson led the blocking effort with three. Olsen led the defense with a career-high 26 digs.

“There are good things ahead for the Hawkeyes,” Shymansky said. “We’ve got a lot of volleyball left. Our league is so amazing that way. Any given night any team is good enough to win. We are certainly one of those teams.”

The Hawkeyes return to action on Wednesday, Nov. 4, when they travel to Bloomington, Indiana, for a 7 p.m. (CT) contest against the Hoosiers.