Hawkeye's End Season on a High Note

EAST LANSING, Mich. – University of Iowa volleyball defeated Michigan State, 3-2, Saturday afternoon in the Breslin Center to cap their 2022 season on a two-match winning streak.

Seniors Edina Schmidt, Amiya Jones, and sophomore Addie VanderWeide led Iowa. Schmidt hit a career-high (.667) and had a season-high 11 kills. Jones led the team with 12 kills and hit a clip of .444. VanderWeide in the return to her home state, had a season-best hitting percentage of .462. Junior Bailey Ortega led the team with 25 assists, which was also her high for the 2022 season.

Iowa has won the last two matchups against Michigan State.

HOW IT HAPPENED

SET 1 (Iowa, 25-23): The first set opened evenly matched between the two teams. Back-to-back kills from Jones and Ortega gave the Hawkeyes a 4-3 lead. Michigan State’s offense was there with a response as they took the lead, 6-7. Both teams were firing early on as we saw ties at points one through nine. The Spartans took the biggest lead of the set thus far after a 3-0 run to take an 11-9 lead. A kill from freshman Nia Washington got Iowa back within one. The Hawkeyes took back the lead, 13-12, after three straight points. After going back and forth throughout the opening parts of the set, Michigan State was trying to pull away after going up three. The Hawkeyes called their first time out down, 17-14. Iowa was able to battle back and get within one. The Spartans used their first timeout with their lead sitting at 21-20. Iowa was able to tie the set at 21 after a 4-0 scoring run. The Hawkeyes took the lead, 23-22, after a successful challenge overturned a point. The Spartans took their second timeout as Iowa was able to get to set point. Jones was able to secure the set with a kill, her fourth of the match. Seven different Hawkeyes registered kills in the first set.

SET 2 (MSU, 25-16): Michigan State jumped out to an early 3-1 lead. Kills from Jones and Washington tied the set at three for the Hawkeyes. Similar to the first set, the two teams went point-for-point as neither team was able to get a lead bigger than two. Sophomore Toyosi Onabanjo tied the set at eight. The Spartans opened a 4-0 run to take the largest lead of the set. Iowa called a timeout with Michigan State ahead, 12-8. Six-straight Spartan points extended their lead. Another kill from Jones got Iowa within four, down 14-10. Michigan State continued to pull away as the Hawkeyes took their second timeout, down 17-10. The Iowa fight was there as they recorded three straight to cut the Michigan State lead to five, 20-15. The Spartans were trying to close out the set, but a block from Onabanjo kept Iowa alive. Michigan State took the second set and evened the match up at one set apiece.

SET 3 (MSU, 25-17): In the early moments of the third set, Michigan State jumped in front of the Hawkeyes, 6-2. Iowa battled back to tie the set at seven on an ace from Jones, capping off a 5-1 scoring run. Onabanjo had an electric block to shut down the Spartans and tie the set at 10. It was a cat and mouse game between the two teams, as kills from seniors Jones and Schmidt gave the Hawkeyes the lead twice. Iowa took a timeout as Michigan State pulled ahead by two, 15-13. The Hawkeyes were fighting to keep the Spartan lead within reach. Michigan State was able to extend their lead to six. A kill from sophomore Michelle Urquhart got the set to 21-16 in favor of the Spartans. An ace and a block secured the third set victory for Michigan State.

SET 4 (Iowa, 25-23): The Spartans and Hawkeyes were exchanging points to open the fourth set. Ortega gave Iowa the lead, 4-3, on a service ace. Michigan State recorded back-to-back kills to retake the lead. The Spartans called their first timeout as the Hawkeyes took the lead, 7-5, on a kill from Schmidt. Michigan was able to come back and tie the set at eight. Kills from Schmidt and VanderWeide gave Iowa the lead back, 10-8. The Spartans went on to open a scoring run of four-straight points to take a 14-12 lead and force a Hawkeye timeout. The Spartans were surging as they were trying to close out the match. Another 3-0 run put Michigan State up four. VanderWeide had two timely kills to keep it close for Iowa. Another Hawkeye kill off the hand of junior Audrey Black, got the score to 20-18. Michigan State took a timeout as Iowa made it a one-point game, 22-21. Redshirt freshman Sydney Dennis had an amazing dig to keep the play alive, and Jones finished it with a kill to tie the set at 22. Iowa took the lead after athletic play all around and Ortega got it to set point with an ace. The Hawkeyes took their final timeout with the lead, 24-23. A kill from Schmidt evened the match at two sets apiece and forced a decisive fifth set.

SET 5 (Iowa, 15-9): The fifth set opened with the Hawkeyes and Spartans exchanging kills. Iowa saw kills from three different Hawkeyes early on. A block from VanderWeide tied the set at five and Iowa took the lead, 6-5, on a Michigan State error. The Spartans took their first timeout. Another big block from VanderWeide gave the Hawkeyes a two-point lead. A kill from Schmidt got Iowa to eight as the teams switched sides. Junior Delaney McSweeney’s first kill of the match was a timely one as it put the Hawkeyes up 9-7. After a service error from the Spartans, Dennis served an ace to force Michigan State to use their final timeout, down 11-8. Back-to-back kills from Black and Schmidt got the Hawkeyes to match point. Iowa secured their second straight victory on a block from Jones and Urquhart.

HEAR FROM HEAD COACH JIM BARNES

“Our team never quit. We showed great character, fighting until the end. We are very grateful for our seniors Edina, Madi, Mari and Amiya. We sent them out with back-to-back wins over the state of Michigan.”