The Hawkeye volleyball team faced with its toughest task yet on Oct. 7, as No. 17 Purdue strolled into Carver-Hawkey seeking to creep back in the polls.Dating to 2003, Purdue had dominated the Hawkeyes, holding a 21-4 record under Boilermaker head coach Dave Shondell.

However, this was a completely different Hawkeye team from what Purdue was accustomed to seeing, and Iowa head coach Bond Shymansky was confident his players were prepared to take on their conference foe.

And they did, 3-2, giving the Hawkeyes their third-straight Big Ten win.

“Every Big Ten team requires our best intensity,” said Shymansky. “There is no room in the Big Ten for anything less than your best effort. Facing Purdue is a really good opportunity to get our avenge win and to keep moving forward in conference play.”

While they have shown excellence on the court, the Hawkeyes have struggled this season with eliminating mental mistakes early on in matches. The abundance of service errors they have committed have cost them opportunities to pull away from matches or rally back.

In four conference matches this year, The Hawkeyes have recorded 34 service errors, compared to their opponents who only have 22 against them.

There is hope for Hawkeyes, however. Purdue is 1-3 in conference matches when their opponents have 10 or more service errors. The significance of this? Purdue isn’t capitalizing when their opponents are making simple mistakes.

Another factor working for the Hawkeyes against Purdue is that the Boilermakers are in the bottom half of the conference in opponents’ hitting percentage. The Hawkeyes rank in the top-five in hitting percentage and have five players on the frontline who are capable of registering in the double-digits in kills.

Shymansky has noted of Purdue’s miscues on defense.

“It’s probably the most dynamic part of the matchup with our offense really right now,” Shymansky said. “I think the development in certain players, such as Ashley Mariani, who has really come on. [Lauren] Brobst and Jess [Janota] continue to be who they are and what they are, and that’s important because they are key pieces to our success.”

Shymansky also pointed to sophomore Reghan Coyle as being one of his team’s key pieces. Coyle has averaged 0.80 blocks per set, while Mariani leads the team with 0.88 blocks per set. They will be the Hawkeyes’ X-factors on defense, as Purdue’s offense features junior middle blocker Danielle Cuttino, who is averaging 3.93 kills per set.

Mariani isn’t daunted by Cuttino’s excellent production.

“Honestly, we just have to keep our hands low for blocking and reach up with her,” said Mariani. “We just have to go out and do our job.”

Cuttino isn’t Purdue’s only weapon. Setter Ashley Evans is one of the 18 players in the country to have recorded a triple-double (10 kills, 10 digs, and 43 assists against Kentucky). She also ranks 19th in the country in assists per set (11.09).

Despite Evans’ success, Shymansky is concentrated on Purdue’s group as a whole.

“Evans is super offensive, and we just have to be mindful of her,” he said. “They have really high, terminal hitters. A setter attacks a ball, and it’s at a different speed than a hitter. We have to be able to withstand her attacks but really focus blocking wise on their hitters.”