Iowa was swept by No. 4 Nebraska, but the Hawks proved themselves to be a legitimate Big Ten opponent.
By kyle mann
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Iowa hosted No. 4 Nebraska to open its conference schedule Wednesday night, and despite dropping the match in three sets, it was as impressive of a performance as getting swept can be.
The Hawkeyes got off to a strong start, trading points with the Cornhuskers in the early going of the first set before beginning to pull away once they hit double digits. After a Nebraska time-out a 4-0 run had the Hawkeyes leading, 17-10, prompting another time-out by Nebraska head coach John Cook.
The Cornhuskers made seven attack errors in digging themselves into the 17-10 hole but shored that up after the break. They rattled off a 13-3 run to claim a 23-20 advantage, prompting Iowa head coach Bond Shymansky to take a time-out.
The Hawkeyes battled out of the huddle and nearly tied the set at 23 on a tumultuous rally before making an error at the net. Nebraska went on to finish the set, 25-23.
Iowa relied heavily on Nebraska’s .156 attack percentage to keep things close but couldn’t count on that for the whole set. Once Nebraska got rolling, the Hawks couldn’t recapture any momentum.
“I told the team one way or another the game’s going to be at 18-all or 19-all, and it’s what we do then that’s really going to count,” Shymansky said. “We needed to shut the door in that first set because it would have turned the tide of momentum, and Nebraska was still trying to figure us out.”
The Hawkeyes had fed Lauren Brobst early in the first set before Nebraska was able to tighten down on her. After 6 kills early in the opening set, clean swings were harder to come by, and it was the same story for her and freshman Reagan Davey in the second set. Between Nebraska’s cleaned-up offensive attack and sharpened defense, Iowa struggled to make runs to maintain separation.
“They started committing more,” Brobst said. “And when they started committing more we had the opportunity to terminate on the back side. Our passing changed, we got a little lackadaisical, and that can’t happen against the No. 4 team in nation.”
The Hawkeyes jumped out to a 6-1 advantage to begin the second set, but another timely time-out from the Nebraska bench seemed to deflate Iowa’s attack. The Cornhuskers quickly tied the score at 6, and the teams jostled through ties for much of the set.
The essence of the match could be summed up by the second set. The Hawkeyes could obviously compete but could never string together enough kills to take claim a solid advantage. They stayed close, keeping the score largely within 2 or 3 before dropping the set, 25-20.
It’s not that Iowa’s play had any drastic drop-off in the third set, but the arena and the team lacked the same energy as when the match began. The Cornhuskers leapt out to a 6-3 lead, eventually stretching that out to 15-11. The Hawkeyes did have one more burst in them, tying the set at 20, 21, and 22. However, Nebraska was again able to close the set and did so by a score of 25-23.
Despite the final results showing a 3-0 sweep, the Hawkeye faithful would be remiss to consider the opening Big Ten match against a top-five opponent anything but encouraging.
“This does not shake our confidence one bit, at all,” setter Loxley Keala said. “We did get swept, but we are right there with them, and that’s a No. 4 team in the country. That’s incredible we were able to stay with them, and we just need to do a better job of closing.”
Keala finished with 37 assists, while Brobst led with 16 kills, followed by Janota with 11.
Iowa will face Nebraska again on the road Saturday.
Follow @KyleFMann on Twitter for news, updates, and analysis of the Iowa volleyball team.