WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – University of Iowa volleyball fell to No. 5 Purdue, 3-2, in a hard fought battle Wednesday night in Holloway Gymnasium.
The Hawkeyes were led by senior Amiya Jones who was hot throughout the match. She matched her career and season high aces with seven, and hit at a team leading .500 clip. Junior Audrey Black had a season high, eight, kills. Sophomore Addie VanderWeide led Iowa with 14 kills to tie her career best and was one of three Hawkeyes registering double-digit kills. Senior Bailey Ortega had a season-high, 22 assists and senior Lily Tessier led the team with 25. Sophomore Michelle Urquhart registered a career-high 17 digs in the match.
The Hawkeyes as a team recorded season-high aces (11) and blocks (14).
HOW IT HAPPENED
SET 1 (Purdue, 25-23): Iowa came out strong opening the match with a 4-0 run. Purdue answered back with a 6-1 run of their own, to take their first lead, 7-6. The two teams exchanged a few points, as Iowa retook the lead, 9-8, off an error by the Boilermakers. Purdue came back to tie it at 10, but VanderWeide responded with a kill. The Boilermakers scored five straight to take the set into a media timeout as their lead grew, 15-11. The Hawkeyes got back-to-back kills from Jones to shorten the Purdue lead. A kill from Black followed by a Jones ace got Iowa within one and forced the Boilermakers to take a timeout up 19-18. The Hawkeyes were able to tie the set at 19 with another ace off the hand of Jones. Iowa and Purdue went back-and-forth as Urquhart got a kill to even the score at 23 all. In the end the Boilermakers were able to close out the set and secure the victory. The Hawkeyes as a team had four aces and hit at clip of .324 in the set.
SET 2 (Iowa, 25-17): Purdue was able to open the second set strong, but the Hawkeyes came charging back. Four straight points from the Hawkeyes, with three kills from Urquhart, gave them the 6-4 lead. Purdue was able to get a couple points, but Iowa responded quickly with another 3-0 run, highlighted by two aces from Jones. Again, the Boilermakers were able to end the Iowa run, but the Hawkeyes were able to respond with four straight to extend their lead to seven as the Boilermakers were forced to take a timeout. Iowa was the first to reach 20 on a kill from VanderWeide. The Hawkeyes took their first timeout as Purdue cut the lead to four. Back-to-back kills from Black gets the score to 22-16. The Hawkeyes were able to secure the set win with an ace from Tessier.
SET 3 (Purdue, 25-21): The third set opened with the two teams exchanging points in runs. From there, it was back-and-forth, but two straight aces from Jones helped the Hawkeyes take a 10-7 lead. Iowa had a successful challenge to extend their lead, 12-9. A kill from Urquhart got Iowa to the media timeout with their lead at three. Purdue was able to record three-straight points to shorten the lead to one, 16-15. The set then went back into a battle as their were multiple ties. The Boilermakers took the 21-20 lead on back-to-back kills. The Hawkeyes took a timeout as the Purdue lead was at 22-20. Iowa quickly took a second timeout as the Boilermakers got it to set point. In the end, Purdue was able to close out the set to take the 2-1 lead in the match.
SET 4 (Iowa, 25-22): An early 6-1 run for the Hawkeyes gave them a commanding lead to start the set. Purdue clawed back into it and got within one. Three straight kills for Iowa pushed their lead back to four with the score at, 9-5. The Hawkeyes were up, 12-7, after a block from junior Delaney McSweneey and sophomore Toyosi Onabanjo. The Boilermakers kept battling as they got within two, and Iowa took a timeout. The two teams were going point-for-point as Purdue was able to tie the set at 16. Iowa got back-to-back points to retake the lead, and Purdue took their first timeout. The Boilermakers quickly took their second timeout with the score at 20-16, Iowa. Jones got her seventh ace of the match to extend the Hawkeye lead to six. The Boilermakers didn’t go quietly as they scored three straight and forced Iowa to take their final timeout with their lead at 23-20. The Boilermakers got within one but a kill from Onabanjo got it to set point. Urquhart got a kill to secure the set victory for Iowa.
SET 5 (Purdue, 15-9): In the decisive fifth set, it opened back-and-forth, but Purdue started to open it up as Iowa took a timeout down three, 5-2. The Boilermakers kept pressing and was able to extend their lead to five when the Hawkeyes took their second timeout down, 9-4. Back-to-back blocks for Iowa got the score to 10-6, but Purdue answered back with a 3-0 run to extend their lead to seven. The Hawkeyes answered back with three straight of their own to make it 13-9, and Purdue took a timeout. The Boilermakers came out of the timeout with two straight to secure the fifth set and match.
HEAR FROM HEAD COACH JIM BARNES
“I am proud of how hard we played and how we were able to follow our game plan. It is frustrating because we did have an edge and an opportunity to take the match, but we just were not able to close it out. This team is improving and fighting and we are on the verge of a breakthrough.”
UP NEXT
The Hawkeyes return to Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa, on Saturday, Oct. 9 to host Indiana. First serve is scheduled for 2 p.m. CT and will be streamed on B1G+ (subscription required).
