Box Score | Box Score 
The Wisconsin volleyball team lost its first Big Ten Conference match of the season on Wednesday against Iowa. The Badgers fell to the Hawkeyes in four sets 25-21, 19-25, 25-22 and 25-18 in front of 4,244 fans at the UW Field House.
'I thought we just made too many unforced errors and didn't ball handle well at the important times,' said head coach Pete Waite. 'That's critical. It changes momentum and we just gave them too many points.'
Wisconsin (5-5 overall, 0-1 Big Ten) failed to hit accurately throughout the match. The Hawkeyes (9-4, 1-0) landed .275 percent of their shots while the Badgers were only able to muster a .170 hitting percentage, including 32 errors, 17 of which were unforced.
UW, however, bettered Iowa in kills (55-48), assists (56-46) and digs (50-49). Junior Allison Wack scored a match-high 17 kills and also had the team's best hitting percentage (.333). Freshman Kirby Toon also tallied 13 kills. Kim Kuzma played well defensively, totaling a match-high 18 digs. Starter Janelle Gabrielsen contributed a team-high 28 assists.
Both Jessa Benson and Alexis Mitchell saw significant playing time off the bench. Benson, a junior, put up 21 assists and added three digs and one block. Mitchell also provided a spark off the bench as she tallied seven kills and at one point scored three of four consecutive Badger kills.
'We were a little inconsistent into the third so we made some changes, ' Waite said. 'We went with Jessa Benson for a little while. She did a nice job coming off the bench and got us going a little bit. Alexis came in and did a nice job.'
Becky Walters and Megan Schipper led the Hawkeyes offensively and both scored 12 kills. Mara Hillenberg directed Iowa's offense as she totaled a match-high 42 assists. Iowa out-blocked UW 15-3, as Walters led the way with eight total blocks.
Down 5-1 early in the first set, the Badgers went on an 8-1 run to take a 9-7 lead. With the set tied up at 15, Iowa was able to pull away with a 4-0 run and never looked back as it earned a 25-21 victory.
The second set was back and forth as it featured 11 ties until the score knotted up at 15. This time the Badgers were able to put together a 6-1 run that led them to a 25-19 set win.
UW struggled in the early stages of the third set and quickly found themselves down 11-4 after the Hawkeyes strung together an 8-1 run. The Badgers clawed their way back to a two-point deficit to 19-17, but despite the UW effort, Iowa escaped with a 25-22 victory.
In the fourth set both teams came out swinging, as they continuously exchanged points. The Badgers found themselves trailing 19-17 and the Hawkeyes closed out the match with a 7-1 run.
The Badgers travel to Minnesota and face the ninth-ranked Gophers on Friday. The match begins at 7 p.m. and takes place in the Sports Pavillion.
