V’ball regains control, falls in battle with top-five team

Iowa volleyball battled back from the previous night of weak offense to compete point-for-point with No. 3 Minnesota.

Anna Kayser, [email protected]

September 30, 2017

Iowa outside hitter Claire Sheehan spikes the ball during the match between Iowa and Northern Illinois inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Friday, Sept. 8, 2017. The Hawkeyes went on to defeat the Huskies 3-0. (Ben Smith/The Daily Iowan)

Iowa volleyball was swept by No. 3 Minnesota on Sept. 30 in Carver-Hawkeye.

Both teams came into the match trying to battle back from being swept on Sept. 29. Iowa was swept by No. 7 Wisconsin, and Minnesota was swept by No. 8 Nebraska.

The first set featured 16 ties and seven lead changes before Minnesota came out on top, 25-23.

The Hawkeye offense bounced back from being shut down the previous night, recording a .333 attack percentage.

Freshman outside hitter Claire Sheehan recorded a team high 5 kills with a .500 percentage.

The teams were neck-and-neck throughout the second set.

RELATED: Volleyball’s offense disappoints in Big Ten home opener

Iowa had the lead for the first half of the set until Minnesota took over in the second and closed it out. The Gophers went on to win, 25-22.

Senior middle blocker Kelsey O’Neill led the Hawkeyes with 6 kills and an .857 attack percentage.

The third set featured eight ties and three lead changes.

Minnesota held Iowa to an .143 attack percentage and ultimately went on to sweep the match with a 25-19 victory.

“Back-to-back nights really tested our true mental toughness and our fortitude as a group,” head coach Bond Shymansky said. “I thought we played way sharper tonight, we were definitely point-for-point with them the whole way through.”