Iowa volleyball went 1-1 in this weekend’s road trip to the Land of Lincoln, falling to Northwestern and triumphing over Illinois in five sets each.

The road trip began with a loss to Northwestern on Friday at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Despite the Hawkeyes’ higher hitting percentage, victories in the first two sets gave the Wildcats a heavy advantage.

Iowa began the first set strong with kills from Whittingstall and second-year Aleksandra Stojanovic, but Northwestern later took the lead on a 3-0 run. While the set was competitive with four ties, the Hawkeyes never got the lead back after their early advantage, and a Wildcat kill gave Northwestern a 25-22 victory in the first.

The Wildcats capitalized on a 3-0 run to give themselves early momentum in the second, which Northwestern rode all the way to a 25-19 win. Iowa never managed to tie the score or pull ahead, even after using both of their timeouts.

The Hawkeyes turned the tables and battled through the third set, the contest’s most competitive with nine ties and five lead changes. Although the Wildcats pulled to within one point with a kill, a Northwestern attack error gave Iowa a crucial 25-23 win.

Iowa heated up in the fourth set, utilizing an explosive 9-0 run to their advantage. While the Wildcats regrouped and managed to put some points of their own on the board, the Hawkeyes’ early gains proved too vast, Iowa’s early lead holding all the way to a 25-18 win in the fourth.

Although the Hawkeyes eyed a reverse sweep in the fifth set, the Wildcats managed to hang on to an early 4-1 lead, which Northwestern kept for the remainder of the set, winning 15-10 and nabbing a 3-2 victory in doing so.

Illinois

Iowa outlasted Illinois in Sunday’s game, marking their first win over the Fighting Illini since 2016, as well as their first in Champaign since 2005.

While the two teams kept close early in the first set, a massive 7-0 run from the Hawkeyes set the tone for a favorable first set, with Iowa taking a 25-19 win following a kill from Whittingstall, who tallied five kills in the first set alone.

The Hawkeyes repeated the effort in the second set, fighting through 15 ties and four lead changes to take a 25-22 triumph, aided by four kills from Vanzandt and another three kills from Whittingstall.

Iowa struggled in the third set, the first of the day where they broke even with Illinois in kills. Further hampered by five attack errors, the Hawkeyes trailed early and, despite deadlocking three times, never got the lead back, leading to a 25-19 Illini win and ending Iowa’s bid for a sweep.

Illinois forced a tiebreaker fifth set with their performance in the fourth, nabbing 12 kills versus Iowa’s 11 kills, as well as forcing seven attack errors while committing only one of their own. The Illini’s 6-0 run to start the fourth set barred any ties and kept Illinois in the lead all the way to the final score of 25-15.

Despite their ups and downs in five-set matches this season, Iowa managed to finish the job in Sunday’s final set. Another three kills from Vanzandt, as well as three kills from third-year Alyssa Worden, allowed the Hawkeyes to shut down a potential reverse sweep and take the fifth set, 15-10.

“We came into a full house and a tough environment and had to earn everything,” head coach Jim Barnes told Hawkeye Sports. “Heading into the fifth, we had to simplify. It is easy to overthink it in those moments. We played the type of volleyball we’re capable of, especially in those first two sets.”

Up next

Iowa returns to road action next weekend, traveling to face No. 24 Indiana on Friday. Set to commence at 5:00 p.m., the contest will be televised on Big Ten Plus.