IU digs deep to beat Iowa, drops match to Minnesota

Over the weekend, the Hoosiers opened Big Ten play with a split, defeating Iowa 3-2 before falling to No. 12 Minnesota 0-3. \nIU coach Sherry Dunbar made her conference debut Friday in Iowa City as her team faced the Hawkeyes. The match turned out to be her first career Big Ten win and a five-game thriller. After being down 0-2 to the Hawkeyes, the Hoosiers fought back and won the match, 3-2 (29-31, 23-30, 30-21, 31-29, 15-13). \nWhen they went into the locker room down 0-2, Dunbar had to rally the team.\n“I emphasized the attitude we needed to be playing with, and that we needed to stick to our program,” Dunbar said.\nSenior co-captain Juli Pierce knew the team was not playing to its full capability.\n“We were not playing our type of game, we were playing more to Iowa’s style,” she said.\nSparking the rally were seniors Annie Moddrell and Gabrielle Allison. Moddrell came in to play this week after nursing a leg injury and sitting out much of practice.\n“I just needed rest on the leg,” Moddrell said. “The athletic training staff did a lot last week to get me ready for play,” \nShe contributed on offense as she had five kills, while Allison contributed on the defensive side recording three blocks.\nIn the pivotal fifth game, the Hawkeyes jumped out to a 7-10 lead which they relinquished by allowing the Hoosiers to score on the next four consecutive points, making the score 11-10. Tied at 13, the back-to-back kills by junior outside hitter Erica Short and senior right side Lauren Ditteon wrapped up the match for the Hoosiers.\n“The fact that we fought back at this level and came back from 0-2 is a true test of what we have been working on,” Dunbar said in a statement. “We are setting a standard for this program, these girls just keep fighting.”\nLeading the team in kills were Short and Ditteon, with 23 and 18, respectively. Also during Friday night’s game, two different Hoosiers etched their names in the all-time record book. Pierce’s 22 digs increased her career total to 905, surpassing two people to move into ninth place all-time.\n“I was excited and just want to thank my teammates,” Pierce said.\nFellow senior Moddrell also cracked the Top 10 with five blocks on the night, recording the 10th most total blocks – 278 – in school history.\n“I was ecstatic,” Moddrell said. “I was not even aware of it until one of the managers told me. I could not stop smiling. It is an honor to be in the record books with some of the top names in this program.” \nAfter having a day off Saturday to travel to Minneapolis, the Hoosiers took on Minnesota Sunday afternoon. They dropped all three matches against the host Golden Gophers losing 30-32, 16-30, 21-30. Sophomore outside hitter Kelsey Hall led the Hoosiers with 12 kills and 10 digs.\nThe Hoosiers (10-4, 1-1) return to their home court 7 p.m. Friday as they take on No. 3 Penn State.