After 419 days without a game, Iowa volleyball returned to the court for one last weekend at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. In their first match of the season, the Hawkeyes fell, 3-1, to the Fighting Illini.

Iowa got off to a slow start in their first set, dropping it 20-25. The Hawkeyes then battled back, overcoming a second-set deficit, 25-23. The Fighting Illini finally punctuated a win with 25-15 and 25-23 wins in the third and fourth sets, respectively.

Both the Hawkeyes and Illini went on scoring runs throughout the fourth set, and Iowa held a 21-16 lead, but the Illini used a late 5-0 run to overcome the Hawkeyes and take the final set.

“We had opportunities where we could close the first and the fourth set,” junior outside hitter Courtney Buzzerio said. “We were up in those, and I think just letting off our high attacks, swinging hard for the hands, and just placing the ball allowed them to capitalize on easier transition plays. But, I definitely think it was our mentality going forward, going into post-20, and closing out those last five points.”

Buzzerio was on the court for the entirety of all four sets for the Hawkeyes, switching between setter and outside hitter. She finished the night with nine assists, 12 kills, and seven digs.

Buzzerio played both setter and outside hitter in 2019-20 after starting setter Brie Orr went down with a concussion in the middle of the season. Orr opted out of the 2020-21 season, forcing Buzzerio to play multiple positions again.

The Hawkeyes will also be without Orr’s fellow seniors – outside hitter Griere Hughes and defensive specialist Halle Johnston – who decided to opt out of the 2021 season as well.

“The seniors opting out is very similar to when the seniors graduate,” Brown said. “It’s just about going into that mindset of adjustment, and we were able to have an ample amount of time to do that. But our juniors … have really stepped into leadership roles, which has made the transition for more players to step up as well.”

The Hawkeyes are playing a unique schedule this season because of COVID-19. Big Ten teams will play back-to-back games against the same opponent every weekend as part of a conference-only schedule. With less than 24 hours between games this weekend, Iowa doesn’t have time to make major adjustments.

“With a quick turnaround time and the game being at noon, there’s only so much adjusting you can do,” Brown said. “So, our focus is just more things on our side, and really just looking at a couple of points of blocking-wise and attack and our transition offense. Those are the two key things we lost to finish out the set.”

According to Buzzerio, the Hawkeyes only showed a morsel of their potential Friday afternoon.

“I think all of us hitters could improve in mixing up our shots,” Buzzerio said. “We were very shot-selective … just mixing things up and keeping them on their toes. I think we’re definitely capable of that, we just showed just a little bit of what we can do.”

Iowa meets Illinois again at 12 p.m. tomorrow. The match will be the Hawkeyes’ last at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, as they are set to move permanently to Xtream Arena in Coralville for the rest of the season and beyond.