Coming off a win over Rutgers, Iowa travels to Indiana on Wednesday.

By Kyle Mann
[email protected]

Having now gotten their first conference win under their belt, the Hawkeye volleyball team will travel to Bloomington, Indiana, with high hopes of putting a streak together.

Iowa now stands at 11-14 on the season, 1-11 in the conference. It will match up with another one of the teams within striking distance in the Big Ten standings: Indiana is 13-11 overall, 3-9 in the league, ahead of only Maryland, Rutgers, and Iowa.

Iowa sits in last place, and after entering the season with the expectation of proving it has improved as a program, is eager to get out of the cellar. Fortunately for the Hawkeyes, the win over Rutgers feels like it could open the floodgates to more success.

After a heartbreaking loss to Michigan on Oct. 7, the team took a while to recover from the bitter sting of dropping three sets after getting out to a 2-0 lead. However, the team is vastly improved from last season, and this first taste of victory could be exactly what the team needed to get over the hump.

“Now we know what it takes to win, and how it feels to win so we can remember that feeling and replicate it,” Loxley Keala said. “Definitely we’ve learned, when we’re leading, how to keep the lead.”

Iowa not only won the match against Rutgers but won it in straight sets. For a team that had been plagued with problems maintaining momentum throughout the season, the unrelenting domination of the Scarlet Knights was an encouraging sign to head coach Bond Shymansky.

Now, Shymansky believes that this win not only confirms that his team can play winning volleyball, it will serve to alleviate some of the momentum and confidence-based issues in matches to come, especially early.

“When you win it takes away self-doubt,” Shymansky said. “You have slow starts because you’re still trying to figure out your opponent, and you’re curious if you’ve got enough to beat them. Now that we’re back on that winning track, you go in with the idea initially that you know you’re going to win every point, so you don’t have to wait and see what your opponent is going to do.”

Confidence can do wonders for a team, and after halting an 11-game skid, the Hawkeyes can shed some of the doubt that had been holding the team back since the Michigan loss.

Seeing another beatable team ahead on the schedule, the Hawks were in high spirits early this week and had a much looser feel about them at practice. The Hawkeyes know better than to overlook any opponent in the Big Ten, but it’s safe to say that their confidence has returned.

Jess Janota, who had 19 kills in the Oct. 30 loss to Maryland and 7 kills in the Rutgers victory, says the Hawkeyes have regained their belief that if they take care of themselves, things will fall into place.

“Our mentality is really positive right now,” she said. “We know we have to fight and it’s not going to be easy, but we just have to go in with that right mindset. We’ll just have to execute on our side and hold their players, and not let them control the game.”

First serve in Bloomington is set for 6 p.m.