Trying to climb out of a rough patch, the Iowa volleyball team needed to get back into the win column in its Nov. 10 match against Michigan State, both for momentum and for retaining a chance for an NCAA Tournament berth.

With the season-ending injury to hitter Cali Hoye, contributions needed to come from all over the floor for the Hawkeyes. The players rose to the challenge.

Coach Bond Shymansky has continually urged players to step up through the rough patches this season, and a lot of players showed up to play in the match against Michigan State.

“Anytime we’re getting full teamwork in terms of block and defense working together when there’s not such big holes, then we tend to turn a lot of points back,” Shymansky said earlier this season.

That full teamwork showed up in the match against the Spartans.

Iowa outpaced Michigan State in blocks, 12-7. In the Hawkeyes’ last several losses, they have lost the block battle, so winning that was a major breakthrough.

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Offensive production finally gained some momentum as well.

Many players who have been very productive this season haven’t produced at a high level recently.

Much of the fire returned, and the Hawkeyes had other producers step up as well

Freshman Hannah Clayton made key differences for Iowa, putting up 7 kills and 5 blocks with a very strong hitting percentage of .600. This helped the Hawkeyes outpace the Spartans on team hitting percentage .269-.244.

Junior Meghan Buzzerio, who has stepped up in the absence of Hoye, had a strong night as well with 12 kills and 10 digs. Sophomore Brie Orr made a lot of this possible, with 44 assists.

“Great fortitude and true mental toughness by our whole group,” Shymansky said in a release. “I thought we had nice balance, and our middles did a great job of blocking. Our passing was strong, and our serving was tough.”

The team was resilient as well.

Iowa lost the first set handily and looked poised to drop its third-straight match. However, the Hawks rallied and won the subsequent three sets, which featured several closely contested points.

The final set of the match that pushed Iowa back into the win column featured four-straight Iowa points after being down late, 23-21.

This match proved a good example of the team’s mission of True Mental Toughness. On a tough streak in the season with many injuries, the Hawkeyes exited East Lansing with a hard-fought win.

“We have to put it all out there in every game, every point, every match,” Reghan Coyle said earlier this year. “We want to play in December, so we have to keep that going for us.”

As has been tradition in recent years, Iowa volleyball is on the bubble of gaining a berth in the NCAA Tournament. The team needs to finish the season in energetic fashion; these last several matches are crucial for this goal.

With the win against Michigan State, Iowa has positioned itself to finish strongly.