Iowa City Today

Iowa Hawkeyes women's volleyball will host Michigan State and Rutgers at Xtream Arena this weekend. The match against Michigan State is scheduled for Friday at 6:00 p.m., marking a rematch after the Spartans won their previous encounter in East Lansing in five sets. On Sunday, Iowa will face Rutgers for their only meeting of the season, with first serve set for noon.

Friday’s event will include Country Night and Letterwinner Night, featuring a free concert by Iowa native Jordan Beem following the match. Sunday’s game has a Spike-or-Treat Halloween theme.

Sunday’s match against Rutgers will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network, while Friday's contest can be streamed on B1G+. All matches are also available via the Hawkeye Radio Network on YouTube, with John Evans providing commentary. Live statistics are accessible through the volleyball schedule page at hawkeyesports.com, and updates can be found on Iowa Volleyball's social media platforms and website.

Senior Claire Ammeraal recently reached her 3,000th career assist during a match against No. 25 USC. Libero Milana Moisio leads the Big Ten with 274 digs. Ammeraal has six double-doubles this season—tied for fourth-most in the conference—and her 677 assists rank fifth in the league. Middle hitter Aleksandra Stojanovic is sixth in hitting percentage at .415. As a team, Iowa is third in blocks with 175.

In their previous meeting with Michigan State, Iowa lost in five sets after coming back to even the score before falling short in the final set. Vares and Vanzandt led offensively with 13 and 12 kills respectively; Ammeraal had a double-double with 43 assists and 10 digs.

Michigan State enters this weekend with a record of 15-3 overall and 5-3 in conference play, including wins over several ranked teams. Malayah Long leads their offense with 680 assists—fourth-most in the Big Ten—and averages ten assists per set. Head coach Kristen Kelsay is serving her first season as head coach of Michigan State.

Rutgers holds an even record of 10-10 but has struggled within conference play at 1-7. Lily Bolen leads Rutgers with 694 assists (second most in Big Ten), Aspen Maxwell leads with 265 kills (fourth in conference), and Lexi Visintine tops service aces (34). Caitlin Schweihofer is now in her sixth season as head coach for Rutgers.

Several Iowa players are approaching individual milestones: Claire Ammeraal is close to reaching her career mark of 500 kills; Allison Berent needs eight more digs to reach her hundredth; Jaimie Marquardt is nearing two hundred career digs; Milana Moisio is sixteen digs away from five hundred; Hallie Steponaitis requires nineteen more kills for one hundred this season; Aleksandra Stojanovic needs two more for one hundred career kills; Carmel Vares needs eleven more for two hundred this season; Hannah Whittingstall is three blocks away from two hundred at Iowa and thirty-four kills from four hundred career kills.

Redshirt freshman Hallie Steponaitis has taken on an expanded role recently, achieving personal bests such as eleven kills twice against both Michigan State and Michigan over the past six matches.

Offensively, Chard’e Vanzandt leads Iowa with over two hundred kills this season and recently surpassed one thousand career kills. Carmel Vares has contributed significantly as well, recording a high of twenty-four kills against Michigan earlier this year.

After these home games, Iowa will travel to Northwestern on October 31st followed by Illinois on November 2nd for additional Big Ten matches. Both games will be streamed via B1G+ and broadcast live on Hawkeye Radio Network.