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Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Ohio State vs Iowa Women's Volleyball

The Ohio State women's volleyball team defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes in four sets Sunday afternoon in front of a crowd of 1048.

The Hawkeyes, who entered St. John Arena on a six game losing streak, won the first set 25-23. Ohio State started the set strong, but Iowa was able to quickly recover and take the lead for the first time 9-8. Kills from Buckeyes Mari Hole, Emily Danks, and Kaitlyn Leary put OSU ahead 15-13 before Iowa head coach Sharon Dingman called the first time out. Iowa was able to take advantage of a few Buckeye errors and kills made by their star outside hitter, Tiffany Nilges, to tie the set at 17. Kills by Hole kept Ohio State close, but a kill by Iowa's Alex Lovell brought set point. Leary's kill was able to put Ohio State in position to take the set at 24-23, but a Buckeye error handed it to Iowa. OSU had nine errors on the set.

Set 2 brought more early kills from Danks and Leary, accompanied by their teammates, Mariah Booth and Kelli Barhorst. More OSU errors and kills made by Hawkeyes Megan Eskew and Chante Thompson tied the set at 6. Leary and Barhorst pulled their team ahead but were quickly answered by yet another one of their errors and a Thompson kill to make it 15 all. Booth began to connect with the ball at this point, and gets a kill and a crucial block with help from Taylor Sherwin. A kill by Lovell gave the team its final point in the set before the Bucks went on get six straight points and win 25-17.

Iowa was able to keep the third set very close with 9 tied scores, but were only able to lead the Buckeyes once early on 6-4. When the score showed 13-13, Booth and teammate Amanda Peterson answered with back to back kills. Iowa tied it up again at 15 with a kill and block from Nikki Dailey. OSU began to run away with the set thanks to kills from Booth, Danks, Leary and Hole. A service ace by Hole shook the arena as the team and crowd celebrated with her, making it 23-16. Hole's next kill made it set point, and a Booth-Danks block sealed the third set.

In the fourth and final set, the Buckeyes went on an early six point stretch to take the lead. After several errors in favor of Iowa and a kill by Nilges, the score remained 17-13. After a kill by Booth, Buckeye libero, Sarah Mignin, had the third service ace of the night. Iowa struggled to catch up as Thompson made a kill and a block. Kills from Peterson, Danks, Barhorst and Dailey, in addition to an Iowa error, brought the score to 24-16. Iowa, unable to make anything happen, watched as Barhorst clenched the match with her ninth kill of the evening.

Mari Hole scored on 19 of her 41 attack attempts and claimed 14 digs and 21 points, a match high. Leary had 13 kills, while Danks and Booth both had 12. Peterson, the OSU setter for most of the match, had 41 assists. Iowa's Thompson and Dailey both had 8 kills; Dailey had 29 assists. Iowa had 16 errors. Although Ohio State had 24 errors on the match, they were able to make up for it in hitting percentage.

The no. 23 Ohio State women's volleyball team walks away with a record of 16-9 overall (6-6 Big Ten) as they prepare for two weeks on the road. The Bucks will face Wisconsin (13-11, 5-7) on Friday and no.15 Minnesota (13-8, 6-6) on Saturday. The Hawkeyes fall to 11-14 (1-11 Big Ten) as they travel back to Iowa City to get ready for Michigan State (17-7, 6-6).

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