Iowa volleyball gets blown out by No. 4 for second match in a row
After a tough outing at Xtream Arena Wednesday, the Hawkeyes could not pull off the upset Saturday, as they were downed in three sets.
Hawkeye’s Head Coach Vicki Brown looks onward while Iowa sustains a one set lead during a women’s volleyball match between Iowa and Indiana at Xtream Arena on Friday, Feb. 5, 2021.
March 21, 2021
Wednesday’s match against No. 4 Nebraska was Iowa volleyball’s most one-sided loss of the year.
It only took three days for that to be topped.
The Cornhuskers dominated Iowa in three sets Saturday at the Devaney Center, 25-14, 25-20, 25-13.
“We worked on cleaning up certain parts of our defense and saw that transfer into the match,” Iowa head coach Vicki Brown said in a release. “Our passers — Boyer, Slagle, and Schmidt — did a great job.”
Nebraska hit for almost a .400 percentage and tallied an incredible 31 digs and 10 blocks.
Iowa, on the other hand, posted its lowest attacking percentage of the season with a horrendous .013 mark and had 7 attack errors per set.
The Cornhuskers spread the love in this match with six players notching at least one kill and three players hitting .520 or higher.
Third-team All-American outside hitter Lexi Sun lived up to her accolades this series, as she led Nebraska in kills (12) for the second match in a row.
First-team All-Big Ten setter Nicklin Hames tallied an easy 31 assists for the Cornhuskers and added seven digs and two service aces for good measure.
There was little going for the Hawkeyes in this one.
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Junior middle blocker Amiya Jones led Iowa in kills and attacking percentage on Saturday. She only had 5 kills but managed a strong .333 attacking percentage with only two errors.
Three Hawkeyes hit below .100 and two of those players, sophomore middle blocker Blythe Rients and freshman outside hitter Audrey Black, had more attacking errors than kills.
Junior outside hitter Courtney Buzzerio tied her lowest assist mark of the year with only eight on Saturday and had a season-low three kills.
The Hawkeyes jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first in Lincoln before Nebraska got four of their own points to tie it.
An 8-1 run fueled by three Hawkeyes errors in the middle of the set for the Cornhuskers was the decider.
The second set was the most competitive of the night.
After a back and forth set throughout, Brown called a timeout after the Hawkeyes had managed to get within three. The timeout couldn’t give her team the momentum as Nebraska would get two straight kills out of the break to go up two sets to none.
Nebraska’s second-team All-American Lauren Stivrins tallied three of her six kills in that set and senior outside hitter Jazz Sweet added five of her own.
Similar to Wednesday’s match, the third set was the worst of the night for Iowa.
The Hawkeyes managed only six kills in the third set and not once did they get multiple points in a row.
Sun went off for seven kills in the third for Nebraska, capping off an elite performance this week from one of the conference’s top players.
“We will continue to fight to maintain our identity no matter who we compete against,” Brown said.
The Hawkeyes will return home March 26-27 to take on the Michigan State Spartans for their final home series of the season.
