With its win over Northwestern, the Iowa volleyball team has equalled its conference win total from last season.
By James Kay
The Iowa volleyball team took down Northwestern this past weekend in Evanston, Illinois, to improve to 12-4 on the season.
The win over the Wildcats was their second Big Ten victory in a row, tying their total from last season. “Our whole group did a great job tonight,” said Iowa head coach Bond Shymansky in a release. “Our passing really anchored us and allowed Loxley [Keala] to run our offense. You could see that with the even distribution we got. We had so many kills from so many different places.”
Keala tore up the Wildcat squad, recording 45 assists and adding 4 digs. She had plenty of options to go to as the team hit an impressive .413 in three sets. The Hawkeyes also had five players that hit .375 or better in the match.
“Iowa passed well, and their setter did a nice job of moving the ball around,” said Northwestern head coach Shane Davis in a release. “She opened up some of their players who maybe don’t necessarily get a lot of kills.”
Senior Lauren Brobst came back strong after underperforming in the Hawkeyes’ match against Maryland, leading the team with 14 kills. To go along with Brobst’s solid outing, redshirt sophomore Meghan Buzzerio had 11 kills, while senior Ashley Mariani garnered 10. Sophomore Reghan Coyle had a quiet match compared with her normal output, but she still hit the ball with efficiency (.400 hit percentage) to go along with 5 kills.
On the other side of the net, Northwestern continued its struggles against Big Ten competition this season and dropped to 0-4 on the season. In the first two sets, the Wildcats hit an abysmal .135 compared with the Hawkeyes’ .390.
“I just loved the fight. You go up 2-0 into that locker-room break, and it’s hard to sustain momentum,” said Shymansky in a release. “We just came out with fight and grit to finish it out.”
Momentum in the Big Ten schedule is something the Hawkeyes have lacked in years past, but they have grabbed some with their last two victories. With momentum comes confidence, and confidence leads to the players doing things they didn’t think were possible before the season started.
The Hawkeyes will continue Big Ten play Friday against No. 14 Purdue and Indiana on Saturday in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.