The Iowa volleyball team traveled to Minnesota this past weekend for a match with the Golden Gophers. Iowa dropped the match in straight sets, falling to 9-12 overall, 1-9 in the Big Ten.

After the Hawkeyes seemed to have found their stride in recent weeks, the Oct. 25 match was a bit of a regression.

The No. 25 Golden Gophers are a talented team, but the Hawkeyes didn’t do themselves any favors. Head coach Bond Shymansky had been pleased with the improvement the team had made in regards to getting into its offensive system, but that was not the case in Minneapolis.

It began with the first set one, which was one of the Hawkeyes’ worst of the season. It’s rough enough that they were defeated 25-12, but the true story of the match lies within the numbers that got them there.

Iowa collectively had an attacking percentage of minus-.030 (yes, that’s negative) in the opening set, compared with Minnesota’s .393, and that discrepancy continued throughout the match.

Set two saw the Hawkeyes lose, 25-14, despite their improving to a .000 attack percentage. The third set was more of the same; with the Hawkeyes hitting .107 and the Gophers .414, resulting in a 25-18 victory and match sweep.

All in all, Iowa finished with a hitting percentage of .022, which will never be good enough to defeat a top-25 team hitting .352. Minnesota made only eight errors in the match, and the Hawkeyes committed a staggering 20.

To personify just how suffocated the Hawkeye attack was, the team’s leaders in kills in recent matches were held to nearly irrelevant contributions.

Senior Alessandra Dietz — who, to her credit, hit .444 and did not commit an error — managed only 4 kills. Lauren Brobst was also held to 4, while Jess Janota registered only a mere 3.

The team was led by Minnesota native Julianne Blomberg with 7.

— by Kyle Mann