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STATE COLLEGE, Penn. – The University of Iowa volleyball team battled hard but ultimately fell in three sets to 11th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions on Friday afternoon in Rec Hall. The Hawkeyes are now 18-8 overall this season and hold an 8-6 mark in Big Ten play.
“Penn State is a national championship team and they played like it today,” said head coach Bond Shymansky. “They were hungry to get off their four-match losing slide here in the Big Ten, so we caught that buzzsaw. It took us a while to get it going, but the positive note is we climbed as the match went on. Our hitting percentage got better and better. In the third set, we were pressing and made it more competitive to give ourselves more opportunities.”
Lauren Brobst led Iowa with nine kills, while Reghan Coyle chipped in seven. Loxley Keala racked up 25 assists and six digs, while Annika Olsen had 15 digs.
Penn State took a 9-3 lead before the Hawkeyes used a 4-1 run to cut the home team’s advantage to 10-7. Reghan Coyle, Meghan Buzzerio and Ashley Mariani each racked up a kill during this stretch before the Nittany Lions secured a 25-11 set one victory. Coyle led the Hawkeyes with three kills, while Mariani and Buzzerio each chipped in two.
Buzzerio began set two with a monster kill before the home team scored back-to-back points to take the lead. Coyle then amassed the next two kills for Iowa to leave the home team with a 4-3 advantage. Penn State went on a run to extend its lead before the Hawkeyes used a 6-2 run to stop the Nittany Lions. Penn State clinched the second set with a 25-16 win. Brobst racked up four kills for the Hawkeyes during set two.
Iowa began set three with a 6-3 lead bolstered by one kill each from Buzzerio, Brobst and Janota as well as blocks from Mariani and Coyle. Penn State used a 5-1 run to take an 8-7. The two teams then scored back-and-forth points before the 11th-ranked Nittany Lions captured a 25-17 victory in set three.
Iowa takes the court again on Wednesday as they travel to No. 1 Nebraska to take on the Cornhuskers. First serve is slated for 7 p.m. (CT).