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Hawkeyes rebound, defeat Western Illinois

logo_iowa_hawkeyesIOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa volleyball rebounded with a 3-1 win over Western Illinois (4-7) on Saturday afternoon to move to 7-2 overall in 2013. The squad now owns a 2-1 record in Hawkeye Challenge action.

“We should have a lot of momentum because we had to come from behind to win it,” head coach Sharon Dingman said. “Momentum is what you always look for. I’m really, super proud of this win because a noon match on Saturday is pretty hard for both teams and then last night’s loss was really disappointing. I think all of us would agree we didn’t compete very hard.

We just kind of let Ball State push us, and we didn’t have any push back. When Western pushed us today, we had some push back. It wasn’t an adjustment the coaches made. It was a mindset adjustment by the Hawkeyes today to start pushing back.”

The Hawkeyes took a lead in the first set and never gave it up en route to a 25-13 win over the Leathernecks. Kills from Erin Radke, Rachael Bedell, Alessandra Dietz and Alyssa Klostermann keyed the early advantage for Iowa 9-3. A four point run, highlighted by an Alex Lovell kill and a solo block from Emily Yanny, extended the Hawkeyes’ lead to eight. Iowa led by as much as 11 in the remainder of the set and closed it out with a Lovell block, Yanny kill and Dietz ace.

Despite outhitting the Leathernecks .167 to .162, the Hawkeyes dropped set two by a score of 25-21 and were limited to nine kills.

Iowa rebounded with a 25-21 win in the third set. Lovell led the charge with five kills followed by Klostermann and Bedell who posted three apiece. After falling behind early, Iowa outscored Western Illinois 5-1 to take the lead. Klostermann posted two kills in the stretch and a block, while Lovell added a kill of her own. The Leathernecks gained the momentum and the lead one final time, before the Hawkeyes took over outscoring their opponents 17-7 to take the set.

In the fourth set, Western Illinois jumped out to an 11-3 lead. Iowa responded with a six point run, highlighted by a duo of Yanny kills, a Lovell kill and a Radke block, to cut the deficit to two. The Hawkeyes then used a Yanny block, Lovell kill and Lovell service ace to tie it up 12 all. From there, each team battled back and forth through ties and lead changes, before a Yanny block, a Klostermann ace, and a pair of Lovell kills ended the set and solidified the match win for Iowa.

Hawkeye duo Bedell and Lovell reached double digits in kills notching 11 and 10, respectively. Setter Klostermann, who earned the first start of her career, dished out a season-high 29 assists and had success running the Iowa offense. Kari Mueller earned her first start at the libero position and paced the team with 15 digs.

“Alyssa (Klostermann) did a great job,” said Dingman. “A freshman running a 5-1 not doing it this whole year did a great, great job. The reason we did it was to see if we could get Alessandra some more hits. We were trying to open her world up a little bit because she has been our most efficient attacker. We were trying to get her some different swings in different places.

We obviously had people in positions that were a little bit different. Kari (Mueller) did a great job.”

Dietz led the way with four blocks, including four solo blocks, while Yanny added three solo blocks. Radke also contributed two stuffs in the match. Iowa’s 12 total blocks were a 2013 season high.

Iowa plays its final match of the Hawkeye Challenge tonight at 7 p.m. against UIC on Mediacom Court in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

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