By James Kay
The Hawkeyes fell to two conference foes this past weekend, dropping their record to 10-4.
Iowa lost to No. 20 Michigan State on Sept. 23 in East Lansing, 3-0, and No. 22 Michigan in Ann Arbor on Sept. 24, 3-1.
The team hit .185 collectively in the two matches, which is well below its season average of .281. Against Michigan State, the Hawkeyes’ committed 9 service errors while also surrendering 9 aces.
Iowa head coach Bond Shymansky was not pleased with the Hawks’ execution.
“We told our group that we needed to serve and pass well,” Shymansky said in a release. “Instead, we put up 9 service errors, and they put up 9 aces. They are the top serving team in the conference and one of the top five in the country, but we have to fight that off. That’s the mental toughness part. We have to keep working on that as a group.”
Senior Lauren Brobst and led the team with 8 kills, and senior Loxley Keala recorded a team-high 29 assists.
The team didn’t fare much better against Michigan; they hit .172 against the Wolverines. The Hawkeyes struggled to serve well and recorded 9 errors in the first set alone.
Shymansky said that it took the Hawkeyes “a hour to get a jump-start,” which proved to be fatal. Despite starting out the season 0-2 in conference play, Shymansky found some positives this past weekend.
“I was talking to the group after the match about how I was proud of their competitiveness, their fight, and their fire,” he said in the release. “You compete against Big Ten teams on the road, and they are big tasks all the way through. We just came out and didn’t really execute early on.”