All Sharon Dingman wants is a little consistency.

The Iowa volleyball team upset then-No. 18 Michigan State in Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Oct. 11. Then, Dingman’s crew dropped two-straight Big Ten matches to bring the Hawkeyes’ record to 10-10 overall, 2-6 in conference play.

The disappointing effort is something the second-year coach hopes her women learn to improve upon during the final two months of the season.

“I just think there’s got to be a combination of effort and execution,” Dingman said. “And at times, we have one and not the other. We’ve got to be able to put both those things together on the court. Again, I’ve been saying it for the last five weeks, we have to be consistent.”

Hosting Northwestern (11-9, 2-6) and No. 8 Illinois (14-3, 6-2) this weekend, the Hawkeyes will play at home for only the second time this season in conference play.

Traveling to face unranked Indiana and Purdue a week ago, Iowa suffered back-to-back 3-0 sweeps on Oct. 16-17. But the Hawkeye will try to return to the winning side in Iowa City.

“I think it’ll be very good to be home again,” senior outside hitter Megan Schipper said. “We’re excited to play in front of our home crowd and just always being competitive and being aggressive.

“In order to be a good team, you need to be able to bounce back from weekends like that. Rebounding and being able to come back strong and stronger is very important for us.”

Iowa is 25-32-1 all-time against Northwestern. However, the Hawkeyes swept the Wildcats during their series meeting last year.

Northwestern is led by senior libero Kate Nobilio, the Wildcats’ all-time leader in digs. She also stands atop the Big Ten with 4.56 digs per set.

On the other side, the Iowa offense is led by Schipper, who ranks 10th in the Big Ten in kills with 3.30 per set and sixth in service aces, averaging 0.35 per set. Junior setter Mara Hilgenberg is eighth with 9.83 assists per set.

Defensively, senior libero Christina Meister will lead the way for the Hawkeyes; she is second in the conference with 4.43 digs per set, and junior Becky Walters is ninth in blocks, with 1.04 per set.

Freshman outside hitter Emma Krieger Kittle is another player Iowa will depend on to have a strong game. The Iowa City native has collected 41 of her 106 kills in the Hawkeyes’ five games against ranked opponents, including a career-high 12 kills against then-ranked No. 11 Iowa State.

During practice, Dingman stressed the importance of going further and exerting more effort during games.

“We’ve been talking a lot about making that extra push,” Krieger Kittle said. “Like pushing each other to be better, and we’re holding each other accountable more. I think that’s really helping. We’re focusing a lot on effort and getting to the little balls and doing the small things.”