Hosting the Hawkeye Challenge, the Iowa volleyball team hardly showed any resemblance to a squad that had started the season undefeated.
After winning its first six matches — a feat last accomplished in 1988 — the Hawkeyes fell in all three of its matches in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
As tough of a blow as it was, though, head coach Sharon Dingman said she hopes her team won’t stay hung up on the tournament’s disappointing results.
“I think we just need to understand it’s young in the season,” she said. “We’re still 6-3, and we still have a winning record. We still are having more success than a lot of Iowa volleyball teams have [had in the past] — and that’s the thing we need to remember.”
The Hawkeyes opened the tournament on Sept. 11 against No. 11 Iowa State — the squad’s first ranked opponent of the season. Despite playing strongly throughout the match, Iowa fell to the Cyclones, 3-1 (25-18, 21-25, 25-19, 25-20).
The following afternoon, Iowa had its first losing streak of the season, falling to Northern Colorado, 3-1, in similar fashion (25-18, 12-25, 32-30, 25-19).
Looking to salvage a victory, the Hawkeyes squared off against another in-state rival in Drake to close out the tournament. Perhaps playing with some lost confidence, Iowa was swept in the tournament, 3-0.
Iowa senior outside hitter Megan Schipper led the Hawkeyes with 11 kills, and senior setter Christina Meister and junior setter Aimee Huffman added 12 digs apiece.
Drake started quickly with four early points in the first set before a kill by Iowa freshman Emma Kreiger Kittle allowed the Hawkeyes to get on the board. Despite knotting the game at 18, Iowa couldn’t pull away for a victory, and the Bulldogs won the set, 25-21.
During the second set, Drake again opened strong, building an 8-3 lead before the Hawkeyes had a four-point run to move closer, 8-7.
However, Iowa only managed to score 15 points as the Bulldogs once again took the set, 25-15.
Heading into the make-or-break third set, the teams went back and forth, trading points. Trailing, 19-16, and sensing a Bulldog run, Dingman called a time-out, which proved to be ineffective; Drake was able to finish out the set and win the match, 25-21.
With only one more tournament before the start of the Big Ten season — the West Point Challenge on Sept. 18-20 — Huffman said the Hawkeyes now have a better awareness of where they stand and what needs to be worked on.
“We hadn’t really been faced with this type of competition yet,” she said. “But we know now that when we’re faced with hard situations, like we’re going to be facing in the Big Ten, we need to pull together. We just didn’t come together as a team like we have been, and we didn’t play together. There wasn’t an all-out effort and confidence in each other like we’ve had in the past.”
Huffman was the only member of the Iowa squad named to the all-tournament team, registering 29 kills, 36 digs, and eight assists. It was the third time she had been honored this season after being named MVP at the Loyola Invitational and making the all-tournament team at the Green Bay Classic.
“It was fine,” Huffman said about her accolade. “It’s hard to be happy about it when we didn’t do as well as we had planned as a team. But I mean, it was also an honor.”