Iowa City Today

University of Iowa’s women’s volleyball team secured a 3-1 victory over Michigan State at Xtream Arena in Coralville on Friday night. The Hawkeyes dropped the opening set 25-22 but responded by winning the next three sets, 27-25, 25-19, and 25-22. This result ended a seven-match losing streak for Iowa and marked their first win over Michigan State since the 2022 regular season finale. The team now holds an 11-10 overall record and is 2-7 in Big Ten play. The 11 victories are the program’s highest in a season since 2016.

Redshirt sophomore Alyssa Worden, from Bartlett, Illinois, led Iowa with a career-high double-double, recording 16 kills and 15 digs. “I wanted to get this win for my team,” Worden said. “I wanted to prove to myself that I could be that player for us. I knew what kind of role I needed to play today and I had that goal leading into this game.”

Head coach Jim Barnes praised Worden’s performance, stating, “I’m so proud of Alyssa tonight. She was a game-time decision on getting the start. Alyssa played consistently well in practice and earned tonight’s start. She was the key to getting us over the top tonight.”

Three other Iowa players also reached double figures in kills. Junior Hannah Whittingstall tallied 14 kills on 25 attempts and led the team with five blocks. Freshman Carmel Vares added 13 kills, while graduate Chard’e Vanzandt recorded her second double-double of the season with 12 kills and 10 digs.

Senior setter Claire Ammeraal contributed 53 assists, nine digs, six kills, and three blocks. Senior libero Milana Moisio led the defensive effort with 17 digs. Sophomore Jaimie Marquardt added 11 digs, two assists, and one ace.

Statistically, Iowa out-hit Michigan State with a .273 hitting percentage compared to .234. The Hawkeyes also had more kills (67-56) and aces (7-4), while Michigan State narrowly led in blocks (9-8).

Reflecting on the match, head coach Jim Barnes said, “We feel that we can compete with every team in this league and we showed it tonight against a really good team that has won a lot of games. We know that we’ve been really close, so it was good to put it together. One of the big keys tonight was that we were low error. The first set we had 12 errors, but after that we played much cleaner and Michigan State couldn’t get to 25 because of it. We played aggressive and clean and kept the ball in the court.”

Iowa will next host Rutgers on Sunday at noon at Xtream Arena. The match will be televised on the Big Ten Network and broadcast on the Hawkeye Radio Network.