The Iowa volleyball team finished with a 2-1 record at the Hawkeye Invitational held at Xtream Arena in Coralville over the weekend. 

The Hawkeyes beat both Central Michigan and Missouri State in three sets to one but fell to Grand Canyon in three straight sets on Sunday.

Despite the disappointing loss to end the weekend, Iowa demonstrated improvement in its first two victories. Assistant coach Brain Yale noted that this team is quickly learning how to play together but is still finding ways to get better.

“Before [the loss to Grand Canyon], we would have said [we have been playing] great; we were finding our rhythm,” Yale said. “Grand Canyon played great. They played really efficiently, but we didn’t have the same intensity that we’ve had the previous two days.”

Yale believes every loss must be viewed as a learning opportunity to discover and fix recurring mistakes.

The Hawkeyes lost to the Antelopes because they struggled to gain momentum the way they did against Central Michigan and Missouri State. 

Iowa head coach Jim Barnes went deep into his bench in hopes of finding an answer. And as it is the coaching staff’s responsibility to ensure all of their players stay ready to come in and contribute, Yale felt his players did just that. 

 “It’s a daily practice thing; we do a lot of rotating by position … they get those relationships playing next to each other and being in the system,” Yale said. “I think our bench has done a good job of being engaged and being involved in games so far … I think they all came in and played as well as they could.” 

And the coaching staff is satisfied with the depth of their roster. Barnes, along with Yale and fellow assistant coach Aubrey Marsellis, believe every player on the roster can come in and be effective whenever their number is called upon. 

Still, the Hawkeyes couldn’t pull through with a sweep on the weekend.

Every day becomes more vital with the Big Ten competition vastly approaching. Yale emphasizes the importance of remembering all positives and negatives throughout a game.

“It’s going to be [about] how we respond to the memory of this last match, being able to click ourselves back into our preparation for Big Ten play, which is coming up here pretty quickly,” Yale said. “We’ve got to continue to figure ourselves out and focus on our side of the net. We gave ourselves a lot of information [throughout the weekend] of things we did right and things we need to get better at.”

Iowa, now still a solid 6-4 overall, will travel to New York to compete in the Syracuse Invitational on Sept. 15-16 to square off against Syracuse and Cornell.

But the Hawkeyes’ Big Ten home opener will indeed come soon, matching up with Minnesota at Xtream Arena on Sept. 21.