After being swept at home by a talented Nebraska volleyball team earlier in the season, Iowa faced the task of traveling to Lincoln for the rematch just one week removed from the loss. Despite the loss, the Hawkeyes turned in what was one of their best performances of the season in front of a packed Devaney Center.

The Hawkeyes started out the match with the same kind of intensity they did in the previous match against Nebraska, racing out to a 12-8 lead early with Emma Lowes getting her first start at setter. Iowa stayed in front through 17 points, but the Cornhuskers were able wrangled the momentum back and captured the first set 25-20.

Iowa flipped a switch to take the next two sets. In a tight second set, several big plays from Edina Schmidt and Griere Hughes helped the team get across the line with a big 25-23 win.

The third set was similarly back-and-forth, with Nebraska leading for much of the set. However, Kyndra Hansen’s well-timed kills gave the Hawkeyes a 21-19 lead late in the set.

Although Iowa gave away a late lead in the set, Hughes’s two kills got Iowa across the line. The two sets showed the growth Iowa has shown competitively in tight sets, something Iowa struggled with earlier in the season.

With a 2-1 lead heading into the fourth set, hopes were high for Iowa to finish out the job, but Nebraska had more gas in the tank to finish out the job. After a dominant fourth set, the Cornhuskers won 25-18. Nebraska carried the momentum into the fifth with three-straight points off the bat.

Although the Hawkeyes clawed some points back, it was ultimately not enough as Nebraska rattled off several impressive plays to claim the victory.

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One of the most interesting aspects to the game was Iowa’s continual swapping at the setter position between Lowes and Courtney Buzzeiro. Both found success at the position, with Lowes tallying a career-high 22 assists and Buzzeiro tallying 20.

Buzzeiro’s return to the net saw the sophomore put in a monster performance. She managed to do it all, notching 22 assists, 20 kills and nine digs in a versatile display from the California-native.

Buzzeiro was just one of the many great individual performances from Saturday’s game.

Schmidt, Jones, and Hughes all reached 10 kills, with Hughes also recording three blocks. Meanwhile, freshman Joslyn Boyer had a career-high 11 digs from the backcourt and Halle Johnston added 21 digs.

Statistically, Iowa competed closely with the No. 6 team in the country.

An unusually high number of errors from the Cornhuskers kept the Hawkeyes in the game, with Nebraska making 25 miscues, the same as Iowa. The Black and Gold hit three more aces than and just one less block after being dominated the week before.