No. 16 Purdue Outlasts Iowa in 5

Nov. 7, 2015

Box Score

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The University of Iowa volleyball team dropped a five-set battle to No. 16 Purdue on Saturday night at Holloway Gymnasium. The Hawkeyes fall to 12-15 overall and 2-12 in Big Ten action with the loss.

“We’ve been doing such a great job throughout this part of our Big Ten schedule,” said UI head coach Bond Shymansky. “For us to push a team like Purdue to a fifth set on their homecoming night — I was so impressed and excited for our group. We just did not respond to that pressure in the fifth set.”

The Hawkeyes came out swinging in the first set, hitting .393 with 16 kills. Sophomore Jess Janota and junior Lauren Brobst gave the Hawkeyes an early, 3-0, lead on back-to-back kills and a block assist. Purdue fought back, using a 4-0 run to tie the set, 9-9. After trading points, the Hawkeyes used two straight kills by junior Ashley Mariani to take a 16-14 lead and force a Boilermaker timeout. Iowa never trailed from there, fighting off a late Purdue rally to win the set, 26-24.

Mariani, Brobst, and Janota each notched four kills apiece in the first set, while junior Loxley Keala surpassed 1,000 career assists (at Iowa) with 15.

The Purdue offense got hot in the second set, recording a .314 attack percentage and 14 kills. The Boilermakers got out to an early 8-2 lead and never looked back. The Hawkeyes used a late three-point rally to pull within five, but could not slow Purdue’s momentum as the Boilermakers tied the match with a 25-19 set win.

The Boilermakers got out to an early 7-4 advantage in the third set, before the Hawkeyes used an 8-3 run to take a 12-10 lead and force a Purdue timeout. Kills by Mariani (2), Janota (2), Brobst (1), and Keala (1) aided the rally. The Boilermakers fought back to take a late 23-22 lead, but back-to-back kills by Brobst and Mariani sealed the 25-23 set victory.

Purdue grabbed an early, 12-7, lead in set four and never lost it. The Hawkeyes used a 4-0 run to pull within one (12-11), but couldn’t overcome the Purdue offensive attack. The Boilermakers registered a .316 attack percentage and 17 kills to win the set 25-20 and tie the match, 2-2.

Four Iowa serving errors and seven hitting errors proved to be the difference in the fifth set. The Boilermakers grabbed a 3-2 lead and never looked back, winning the set, 15-8, and the match, 3-2.

Janota paced the Iowa offense with 19 kills, while Brobst (15) and Mariani (13) also reached double digits. Keala dished out 55 assists, and sophomore Annika Olsen led the Iowa defense with 22 digs.

The Hawkeyes return to Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 11, hosting No. 1 Penn State at 7 p.m. (CT).

“Now we have Penn State back at Carver,” said Shymansky. “We played them really tough in State College. I think our group is going to be excited to get back out there against them. They will respond and do everything they can to take down No. 1 Penn State.”