Xavier University Athletics
Xavier University
Iowa
Volleyball Suffers 3-1 Setback to Iowa at ISU Tournament
09.13.08 | Volleyball
Sept. 13, 2008
AMES, Iowa - After taking its first match of the Iowa State Tournament on Friday, the Xavier volleyball team dropped its match versus Iowa Saturday morning, 3-1 (25-22, 11-25, 14-25, 19-25) at the Hilton Coliseum on the campus of Iowa State. Sophomore setter Claire Paszkiewicz recorded her second consecutive double-double, turning in 31 assists and 10 digs.
Also for the Musketeers, senior Megan Hellmann got under a match-high 16 digs and junior Kelly Ruth tallied a team-high 12 kills. Juniors Lauren Kaminsky and Hillary Otte smashed nine kills apiece.
Offensively, Iowa (4-4) out-hit Xavier (5-3) by posting a .289 hitting percentage to the Musketeers' .081. Attacking errors were XU's downfall as UI committed only 16 miscues to Xavier's 30. The Hawkeyes out-blocked the Musketeers 13-3.
Xavier sprinted out to an early 8-3 first-set lead and stretched the advantage to 17-10 later in the frame. The Hawkeyes battled back with a 9-1 run, capped by a block by Laura Kremer, to take their first lead of the set at 19-18. Xavier then closed out the set, using a 7-3 surge to take a 1-0 lead in the match with a first-set 25-22 victory.
Iowa controlled the remainder of the match, taking the next three sets. The Hawkeyes jumped out to an early 10-5 lead and never looked back. UI used a 6-0 run to close out the second set which included back-to-back kills from Catherine Smale. Iowa tied the match at two apiece with its 25-11 win.
In the third set, Iowa was again able to go up early, this time by seven at 10-3. The Hawkeyes were relentless and never allowed Xavier to put together more than two points at a time. UI took the third set, 25-14, and went up two sets to one.
The deciding game saw a resurgence in the Musketeer offense as XU rallied from an 8-3 deficit to overtake the Hawkeyes using an 8-0 run. Xavier did not trail again until 14-13 after a kill from Smale in the midst of a 5-0 Iowa run. XU would not recover as UI took the fourth set, 25-19, and the match 3-1.
Xavier wraps up play at the Iowa State Tournament with a 7:30 pm match versus host Iowa State.
