Iowa dropped a back-and-forth match to the Buckeyes on Wednesday evening.
By Kyle Mann
The Hawkeye volleyball team hosted Ohio State on Wednesday night, dropping a very back-and-forth match, 3-1, in Carver-Hawkeye.
Ohio State was the first to make a move, and after trading points, pulled out to a 7-5 advantage in the first set. Iowa battled to come within 1 point on several occasions, but the lead quickly became 15-10 in Ohio State’s favor, prompting a Hawkeye coach Bond Shymansky to call a time-out.
The Buckeyes then extended their lead, pulling away to 19-12 before another Shymansky time-out.
The Hawkeyes simply never found any rhythm in the opening set, allowing the Buckeyes to go a perfect 14-of-14 side-out and post a .591 attack percentage as they fell, 25-14.
Iowa started the second set much quicker, taking a 4-3 lead and extending it to 8-4. After an early Buckeye time-out, Shymansky’s team showed a burst as it extended its lead to 14-9.
With the help of a 5-1 run, however, Ohio State cut the deficit to 15-14 as Shymansky decided to meet with his troops on the sideline.
Before long, the set was tied at 16, but a kill by Mikaela Gunderson put the Hawkeyes back up, 18-16, and sent the Buckeyes back to the bench, using their final time-out midway through the set.
After approaching game point leading, 24-22, Iowa allowed Ohio State to tie the set at 24. This was the resilient version of Iowa, however, and a kill by freshman Reghan Coyle gave the Hawkeyes a 28-26 victory to tie the match at one set apiece and gave the Hawkeyes something to build on.
“We lost focus a little bit there at the end, but we were able to hold our ground and execute those last couple plays,” Hawkeye Jess Janota said. “It was really important to go into the third game with the confidence we built in the second.”
After giving Iowa a taste of belief, Ohio State made a point to quickly take away any of the momentum carrying over to the third set, racing out to a 9-3 lead. Shymansky got his team to regroup, however, reducing the distance to 11-9. Ohio State countered with a time-out of its own.
Capturing the back-and-forth nature of the set, the Buckeyes rattled off a 6-1 run to get back to a 6-point lead and Shymansky called his team back again, trailing, 16-10. The Buckeyes had regained their form from early in the set and didn’t let the Hawkeyes come close again. They won the set, 25-19.
Despite what the final results say, this was a hard-fought match, no more the case than in the fourth set. Iowa gave the set its 10th tie when it evened the score at 16, but that would prove to be its last sniff at a victory, as Ohio State pulled away to secure the set and the match, 25-20.
Ohio State came away with a 3-1 victory but wasn’t as dominating as that may suggest. Rather, it was the Buckeye’s Audra Appold alone who made the most significant impact on the game. Appold had 29 kills on .489 hitting and carried her team for most of the night.
“We couldn’t contain Appold, and that is the reason that we lost,” Hawkeye Loxley Keala said. “We just couldn’t control her.”
Shymansky saw his team make several improvements from the first meeting with Ohio State, but ultimately, the Hawks need more.
“Our passing and our ability to play a clean game was obviously way better,” Shymansky said. “I thought we were super competitive, we were doing good things; we just couldn’t stop [Appold].”
Ashley Mariani led Iowa with 10 kills, while Coyle, Janota, and Gunderson each had 9. Keala had 42 assists, and Annika Olsen had 19 digs.
Follow @KyleFMann for Iowa volleyball news, updates, and analysis.
