Penn State snapped the Iowa volleyball team’s four-match winning streak was Wednesday night, defeating the Hawkeyes in straight sets for the second time this season.

As lethal as the Hawkeye offense had been over the last several weeks, it was largely suffocated all night against the No. 6 team in the nation.

The first set saw the now 13-13 (5-10 in Big Ten) Hawkeyes achieve a hitting percentage of merely .036. On the other hand, Penn State hit .469 en route to a 25-14 victory.

Iowa improved only slightly in set two, hitting .088, but when the Nittany Lions also improved to a devastating .533, Iowa dropped the set, 25-12, to fall behind 2-0 in the match.

Bond Shymansky’s squad showed life, facing a sweep in the third set, but it was too little, too late.

Out of a Penn State time-out however, the Hawkeyes surrendered a run and the lead. Another run after a Shymansky time-out promptly ended the set and the match, 25-22.

Mikaela Gunderson led the Hawkeyes with 6 kills on a .556 attack percentage, while Alessandra Dietz and Taylin Alm had 5 each. As a whole, however, the attack was ineffective, and Penn State limited the contributions of several key players for the Hawkeyes.

Shymansky and his team will try to get back to its recent winning ways when the Hawks meet Wisconsin at home on Saturday.

— by Kyle Mann