IOWA CITY, Iowa -- The University of Iowa volleyball team dropped a 3-2 decision to No. 22 Purdue on Sunday afternoon at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
FIGHT FOR IOWA
Brie Orr racked up 49 assists, six kills, five digs, four blocks, and a .667 attack percentage. Orr surpassed the 1,000 career assists milestone today and now has 1,027 career assists. This was her 20th match with 30-or-more assists and her 12th match with 40-or-more assists.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Sets 1 and 2 (20-25, 25-19) | Iowa fell, 20-25, in set one before bouncing back in set two. Trailing 16-11 in the second set, the Hawkeyes called a timeout before closing the set on a 14-3 run to tie the match at 1-1. Claire Sheehan and Kelsey O’Neill each had three kills for Iowa in the second set.
Set 3 (25-23) | Holding a 23-22 lead after a tightly-fought set that featured nine ties and four lead changes, the Hawkeyes used back-to-back kills by Jess Janota and Annika Olsen to set up match point. Sheehan’s kill secured the 25-23 set victory and the 2-1 match lead for Iowa.
Set 4 (24-26) | With the score knotted at 24-24, Purdue scored two consecutive points to take the set and tie the match at 2-2. Sheehan recorded seven kills, five digs, and an ace for Iowa.
Set 5 (9-15) | Purdue took an early lead in set five and never trailed en route to a 15-9 set victory and a 3-2 match win. Taylor Louis had three kills for Iowa.
HEAR FROM COACH SHYMANSKY
"You could tell we ran out of steam in the fifth set. We gave a lot in the fourth set. We tried to battle them off and they pulled it out at the end. Credit to their two big hitters for taking over and really carrying them by the end. I just keep encouraging our team that we continue to get better, we continue to battle. We know we are going to be in that moment all season. We just keep saying we are going to be in tight moments with the best teams in the league. We just have to find ways to finish it out. Our youth showed at times there, but I was really encouraged that we can go out and get more wins here with six more matches left in Big Ten play."
"Today was great. You could feel the energy in here and people trying to will us to win. Penn State is a huge match opportunity. They are the number one RPI team in the country and we face them on Wednesday night at 8 p.m. Then we face Ohio State on Saturday night at 8 o'clock for Senior Night. We love it when Hawkeyes show up and support us. It really makes a big difference for the energy. Especially on senior night, we’d love to get people in here to really support the seniors who have given so much to our program."
NOTABLES
· Four Hawkeyes -- Sheehan (15), O’Neill (10), Louis (14), and Janota (11) -- recorded double-digit kills.
· Annika Olsen tallied 26 digs, marking her 23rd match with double digits in digs and her eighth match with 20-or-more digs.
· In addition to a team-high 15 kills, Sheehan tacked on 13 digs for her fourth double-double of the season.
UP NEXT
Iowa continues its four-match home stand on Nov. 8, hosting No. 1 Penn State in a matchup on BTN. First serve is slated for 8 p.m. (CT).
RECORDS UPDATE
· Iowa: 16-11, 5-9 B1G
· No. 22 Purdue: 18-7, 8-6 B1G
FOLLOW THE HAWKEYES
For an inside look at the Iowa Volleyball program and access to exclusive coverage, "like" University of Iowa Volleyball on Facebook and follow @IowaVolleyball on Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat.