After a slow start to the season, Iowa has picked it up over the past few weeks. This weekend presents opportunities.
By James Kay
After stumbling out of the gate early on in conference play, the Iowa volleyball team is riding a four-game winning streak heading into its brief road stint against Maryland and No.19 Ohio State.
Last week, the Hawkeyes stunned No. 17 Purdue in an epic five-set match. They followed that win up with a sweep against a formidable Indiana team. Going into this week, the Hawkeyes feel confident about where they stand.
“[The win against Purdue] was definitely a confidence boost,” freshman Cali Hoye said. “I think that everyone is just getting after it in practice. Everything is just increasing; our positivity and our confidence can only go up from here.”
Redshirt sophomore Kasey Reuter is more focused on what the future holds for the team.
“We don’t like to set goals, but at the beginning of the season, one of my goals was to upset a lot of good teams,” Reuter said. “We have a lot of good teams in our conference. Many of them are in the top-25 teams in the country. We have to play our game and acknowledge that we are going to play good opponents and focus on what we are going to do to them.”
While the Hawkeyes have had success at home against conference foes (3-0), they have struggled on the road (1-2). In their two losses against Michigan and Michigan State, the Hawkeyes hit an abysmal .185 while their opponents hit .312. The Hawkeyes did beat Northwestern on the road in straight sets, but the Wildcats are in rebuilding mode and currently aren’t a threat.
The Hawkeyes are trying to establish a threatening presence on the road, and they will have an uphill battle against a physical Maryland team.
“Road wins are enormous, and Friday will be a really big opportunity and challenge for us,” Iowa head coach Bond Shymansky said. “We have to come loaded for [Maryland], because they are loading up.”
The Hawkeyes might actually have a leg up against Maryland; the match will take place outside of where Maryland is used to playing. The match will be at the Xfinity Center, which has a similar set up to Carver-Hawkeye. This could prove to be useful as the Hawkeyes try to make the Xfinity Center more like home.
“We are excited to get on the road,” Reuter said. “I think Maryland will bring a really good crowd, which we are used to since [Carver-Hawkeye] is huge. We like having the crowd and a lot of noise, so for us, I think it could be an advantage.”
They will use this weekend to try to catch up in the conference rankings that features five top-25 teams in the nation, but Shymansky is taking it one weekend at a time.
“This is just the nature of the Big Ten; every weekend you have these monster opportunities to gain ground,” he said. “We have to play with that kind of hungry monster mentality that we had this past weekend. Even in the opening week against Maryland and Northwestern, we were still trying to figure out if we can compete in league play, and I sensed that hesitation from our group. We have passed that now, and we are going to hit the gauntlet to do something significant.”
The Hawkeyes face Maryland at 5 p.m. today before they take on the Buckeyes at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Buckeye Volleyball Center.