The Hawkeyes feel good about their chances hosting No. 24 Michigan.
By Kyle Mann
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The Iowa volleyball team is winless in the Big Ten, starting conference play with four-straight losses.
Perhaps no team in the country will see a more difficult stretch of opponents all season, however, and the Hawkeyes have their best opportunity yet to get a victory this evening.
After facing No. 4 Nebraska twice, followed by No. 13 Ohio State and No. 1 Penn State, Iowa has No. 24 Michigan in its sights for a matchup at 7 p.m. in Carver-Hawkeye.
The Wolverines enter at 12-3 overall, 2-2 in the conference and 2-2 on the road. They pose yet another formidable opponent, but after four competitive losses to some of the best squads in the nation, the Hawkeyes are confident that they can cause problems for any foe.
Led by Lauren Brobst and Jess Janota, coach Bond Shymansky’s offense has left teams scrambling.
“Our fast offense is really helping us do the trick,” Brobst said. “A lot of teams’ middles won’t get out and can’t get to that shoot ball or the pin as fast as they’d like to.”
Brobst has often been the beneficiary of open swings at the net, sitting at eighth in the Big Ten with 3.49 kills per set.
At the middle of it all has been setter Loxley Keala, who has orchestrated Shymansky’s offense magnificently. She checks in at fifth in the conference with 11.29 assists per set. Along with Janota, middle blocker Mikaela Gunderson has continued her emergence as a viable terminator. With defenses focused on Brobst and Janota, Gunderson is currently 11th with a .376 hitting percentage.
The Hawks were once riding a high after defeating Iowa State and knocking off then-ranked Texas A&M, but after the recent string of losses, they must be careful to maintain their mentality and level of execution.
Gunderson, a senior and a leader for the Hawkeyes, says the team is still in high spirits and ready to capitalize today.
“We’ve been competitive, and we know that we’ve played tough opponents; anytime we can use that as a learning opportunity, it’s a good step forward,” Gunderson said. “It’s just knowing that we are progressing, and we are staying right there with them that keeps us high and happy.”
Shymansky said early in his tenure at Iowa that the first and biggest step to the program’s rebuilding would be to instill a new sense of confidence and identity, and that has certainly happened.
In just the time from when he started to where the team is now, he knows the Hawkeyes have settled into their identity.
“At this point in the season last year, we were still trying to figure out who we were,” he said. “This year, we know who we are, we just have to go out and be that same team, those same competitors all the way through the match.”
The No. 24 Wolverines are the lowest-ranked Big Ten opponent the Hawkeyes will face so far, and Shymansky says there’s no better place to start.
“This is when it needs to start; we’re at home, Michigan is a very like team to us,” Shymansky said. “Michigan presents the same opportunity that every Big Ten team does, which is the opportunity to play great volleyball and win a great volleyball match.”
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