Match Notes: Purdue

THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa volleyball team travels to West Lafayette, Indiana, to face 13th-ranked Purdue this weekend. Friday’s series opener is set for 5 p.m. (CT), followed by Saturday’s match at 3 p.m. inside Holloway Gymnasium.

HOW TO FOLLOW ALONG

• Live stats for each contest are linked on the team’s schedule page.
• This weekend’s matches will be streamed on B1G Network+ (subscription required).
• For live, in-game score updates, follow @IowaVolleyball on Twitter.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

• Iowa’s 2021 volleyball schedule features a conference-only, 22-game slate. Iowa will face 11 of the Big Ten’s 14 teams. Four of Iowa’s opponents (No. 13 Purdue, No. 1 Wisconsin, No. 5 Nebraska, and No. 7 Minnesota) are ranked in the AVCA Coaches Poll.
• Last season, the Hawkeyes faced the 11th toughest schedule in the nation, going 10-21 (4-16) in head coach Vicki Brown’s first season at the helm. Opponents combined for a .626 win percentage in 2019.
• Iowa will play its first games at Xtream Arena — the new home of Iowa Volleyball — Feb. 5-6 against Indiana.
• The Hawkeyes return 10 of 15 letterwinners from last season and welcome five freshman this season. Eleven of Iowa’s 15 student-athletes are underclassmen.

QUICK HITTERS

• Four of Iowa’s last six matches against Purdue have gone five sets. The Hawkeyes last win over the Boilermakers was in 2016 when Purdue was ranked 17th in the country.
• Friday will be Iowa’s first match against a ranked opponent this season. In 2019, the Hawkeyes were 1-5 against top-25 opponents. Five of Iowa’s six ranked matches last season were played away from home. Iowa defeated No. 22 Washington State in a 3-0 sweep on Aug. 31, 2019 for Iowa’s first win over a ranked opponent on the road since 2012.
• Iowa will play its first ever match at Xtream Arena — the new home of Iowa Volleyball — Feb. 5-6 against Indiana. Fans are not permitted at Xtream Arena. Immediate family of coaches, student-athletes, and event staff are allowed in attendance
• Junior Amiya Jones ranks first all-time in attack percentage at Iowa. Jones’ .298 career attack percentage (351 kills, 120 errors, 774 total attacks) is atop the Hawkeye record book. Mikaela Gunderson (.294; 2013-15) and Jess Janota (.281; 2014-17) rank second and third.

BEST CONFERENCE IN THE NATION

• Six Big Ten teams are ranked in the AVCA Coaches Poll, including four in the top 10: No. 1 Wisconsin, No. 5 Nebraska, No. 7 Minnesota, No. 9 Penn State, No. 13 Purdue, and No. 21 Michigan.
• Seven Big Ten Schools qualified for the 2019 NCAA Tournament. Wisconsin was the NCAA runner-up, falling to Stanford, 3-0. Minnesota lost to Stanford, 3-0, in the NCAA Semifinals.
• The Big Ten Conference has crowned an NCAA Champion in nine of the last 15 years and two Big Ten teams have advanced to the Final Four five straight seasons.

OPENING WEEKEND

• Iowa opened the 2021 season at home against Illinois, playing for the first time in 419 days.
• The Hawkeyes dropped both matches, 3-1. Iowa took the second set off Illinois in the season opener, 25-23, and the third set on Saturday, 25-19. Iowa’s .294 attack percentage (14 kills, four errors, 34 total attacks) in the third set of Saturday’s match was the best of any set this season.
• Junior outside hitter Courtney Buzzerio led Iowa in kills in both matches to start the season. On Friday, she opened the season with 12 kills and added 10 more kills on Saturday.
• Sophomore libero Joslyn Boyer set new career highs in digs to start the season. Her 15 digs in the season opener set a new personal best, and the Downers Grove, Illinois, native bested that total with 17 digs on Saturday.

B1G RANKS

• Iowa ranks fifth in the Big Ten in blocks per set (2.8).
• Junior Hannah Clayton and sophomore Blythe Rients are tied for the team lead with 11 total blocks and are tied for sixth in the Big Ten with 1.4 blocks per set.
• Boyer ranks third in the Big Ten with four digs per set.

FRESH FACES

• Three freshman — Audrey Black, Bailey Ortega, and Leanne Lowry — made their collegiate debuts last weekend.
• Ortega, a Davenport North high school grad, started her first two career games at setter. In her first career match, Ortega recorded 19 assists, and followed up her debut with 20 assists. Her 39 assists leads the Hawkeyes.
• Black, an Aurora, Colorado, native, recorded four kills and two block assists in her first career game. The following day, Black notched seven kills, including three in the first set against Illinois.
• Lowry, a defensive specialist from Castle Rock, Colo., entered both games a defensive replacement, but did not record any statistics.

NEW HOME FOR THE HAWKEYES

• Xtream Arena powered by Mediacom will serve as the new home for the University of Iowa Volleyball team.
• The 5,100-seat arena is located in the Iowa River Landing in Coralville, Iowa.
• The arena connects to the 53,000 sq. ft, 5-court GreenState Family Fieldhouse.
• Xtream Arena will also be the home arena for a newly announced ECHL hockey team in 2021-22.

SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE

• Iowa’s 2021 volleyball schedule features a conference-only, 22-game slate. Iowa will face 11 of the Big Ten’s 14 teams. Four of Iowa’s opponents (No. 13 Purdue, No. 1 Wisconsin, No. 5 Nebraska, and No. 7 Minnesota) are ranked in the AVCA Coaches Poll.
• Home and away games will alternate weekends. Games will be played on Friday and Saturday, with one game (vs. Nebraska, March 17) on Wednesday.
• Iowa’s March 17 match against Nebraska at 6 p.m. (CT) will be televised on Big Ten Network and the regular season finale at Minnesota will be televised on ESPNU at 3 p.m.
• The NCAA Tournament will be begin April 8.
• All dates and times are subject to change.

ROSTER BREAKDWON

• The Hawkeyes return 10 of 15 letterwinners from last season and welcome five freshman this season.
• Eleven of Iowa’s 15 student-athletes are underclassmen.
• Brie Orr, Halle Johnston, and Griere Hughes opted out of the 2021 season.

SCOUTING PURDUE

• The Boilermakers, who went 24-8 last season and advanced to the Sweet 16, are 0-2 this season, dropping two matches to top-ranked Wisconsin on the road.
• Purdue was picked to finish fifth in the Big Ten preseason poll.
• Purdue is led by returning All-Americans and preseason All-Big Ten selections Grace Cleveland and Caitlyn Newton. Cleveland did not play in Purdue’s first two games of the season. Newton leads the Boilermakers with 20 kills.
• Purdue is coached by Dave Shondell, who is in his 18th year as head coach. He is one of three active Big Ten coaches to own at least a .660 winning percentage and he has led Purdue to 14 NCAA Tournament berths in the last 17 years.

2019 TEAM RECAP

• Last season, the Hawkeyes faced the 11th toughest schedule in the nation, going 10-12 (4-16) in head coach Vicki Brown’s first season at the helm. Opponents combined for a .626 win percentage in 2019.
• Iowa took No. 6 Nebraska to five sets for the first time in school history. The Hawkeyes won the second set, 25-23, and the third set, 27-25, on the road inside the Devaney Center on Nov. 16.
• In Iowa’s home match against Nebraska on Nov. 9, Iowa set a new program attendance record as 4,737 fans watched inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa’s top five most attended matches in program history have all come in the last four years.
• Iowa swept Indiana last season for the second time in the last three seasons.
• Iowa defeated No. 22 Washington State in a 3-0 sweep on Aug. 31 for Iowa’s first win over a ranked opponent on the road since 2012.

2019 INDIVIDUAL RECAP

• Courtney Buzzerio led Iowa with 32 aces last season — the most by a Hawkeye since Ashley Mariani in 2015. Buzzerio’s 0.30 aces per set is the most by a Hawkeye since Becky Walters averaged 0.39 aces per set in 2010.
• Buzzerio also became the first Hawkeye in 14 years to record a triple-double. The Chino Hills, California, native recorded a team-high 18 kills, 20 assists, and 10 digs in five sets against No. 6 Nebraska on Nov. 16, 2019. She joins Kiley Fister (2005) and Fabiana De Abreu (2000) as the only Hawkeyes to accomplish the feat in the last 20 years.
• Middle blocker Amiya Jones had a career day against Indiana on Oct. 26. As a sophomore, Jones recorded a career-high seven aces, including three straight, and a career-high 15 kills in Iowa’s five-set victory. Jones’ seven aces tied for the most in school history in a five-set match and third most overall.
• Blythe Rients’ 11 total blocks (10 BA, 1 BS) against Indiana on Oct. 20 were the most by a Hawkeye since 2011 and tied for sixth in Iowa single-match history. The 11 blocks tied for the most in the Big Ten last season and most among Big Ten players in a four-set match.
• Last season Joslyn Boyer led Iowa freshmen in playing time. The Downers Grove, Illinois, native played in 104 sets, registering 161 digs. She tallied a then career-high 14 digs at Indiana on Oct. 26.

COACHING STAFF ADDITIONS

• Iowa welcomed two new assistants to its staff after the 2019 season.
• Dave Brown joined the Hawkeyes as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator on Jan. 21, 2020. Prior to Iowa, Brown was the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator at Loyola-Chicago where he helped the Ramblers set a single-season record for conference wins (14) and most total wins (21) since 2004 in 2019. In his first season at Loyola, Brown was one of 11 NCAA Division I women’s coaches Thirty Under 30 Award recipients from the AVCA for up-and-coming young coaches.
• Former Hawkeye Alyssa Klostermann joined the Iowa staff as a volunteer assistant coach in December. As a three-time captain for the Hawkeyes from 2013-16, Klostermann appeared in 103 matches and finished her career No. 11 on Iowa’s all-time assists list (1,006). Klostermann recently coached club and high school volleyball in Minnesota, winning the 5AAA Minneosta state championship at Wayzata High School in 2019.

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