After two losses, the Iowa volleyball team has now dropped 10-consecutive Big Ten matches.
By Kyle Mann
The Iowa volleyball team had two matches at home over the weekend, with hopes of putting an end to the eight-game skid it has been on since the start of Big Ten play. Instead, a pair of ranked teams extended the losing streak to double digits.
The Oct. 23 match with No. 16 Wisconsin featured the Hawkeyes staying close throughout the majority of match but ultimately unable to dig themselves out of holes they created early.
The Badgers went up, 7-4, early in the first set, and the Hawkeyes never closed the gap. Down 3, they came within 2 on nine occasions but dropped the set, 25-22.
“We do start off slowly most of our sets; we just need to do a better job of coming out really strong,” setter Loxley Keala said.
With the score close early in the second set, the Badgers rattled off an 11-3 run to take a commanding 18-9 lead. The Hawkeyes weren’t done, however, and made a run of their own to keep things close. But the damage had been done, and they dropped the set, 25-22.
Once again in the third set, Iowa fell behind early but came back to come within 1 about midway through. Then, after a Wisconsin time-out, an 8-2 Badger run largely wrapped up the match. Iowa dropped the final set, 25-18.
The Saturday meeting with No. 9 Minnesota had a similar story, though more exaggerated in both directions. Iowa’s first two sets were particularly sloppy, but in the third, the Hawkeyes showed the grit and fight that defined them early in the season.
Iowa surrendered a point to the Gophers early in the set, and after hitting .059 collectively, dropped the opening set, 25-17.
Minnesota began the second set with another 5-0 run and looked like one of the best teams Iowa has faced this year. Minnesota held on to its momentum and played a crisp second set, going 15-of-16 on sideouts and winning the set, 25-15.
After being largely dominated for most of the match, both the Hawkeyes and head coach Bond Shymansky showed some fight in the third set.
After falling behind, 14-7, Iowa launched a run of its own tie the set at 21. After trading ties, a questionable call at the net put Minnesota ahead, 25-24.
“I’d say I disagreed with it, but like Coach says, you can’t really win a whole game on 1 point and one call,” Jess Janota said “You’ve just got to stick with it and play on to the next one.”
Minnesota claimed the next point, winning the set and the match, 26-24.
Reagan Davey and Mikaela Gunderson each had 11 kills in the loss, and despite being swept, the Hawkeyes felt they finished the weekend on a positive note.
“We have tons of volleyball left in front of us this season,” Shymansky said. “You can feel the intensity and momentum in our group building. We keep saying there is something bubbling underneath, and it bubbled to the surface here at Carver tonight.”
