The Iowa volleyball team fell to No. 20 Minnesota at Xtream Arena on Sunday. The Hawkeyes are now 14-14 overall and 5-11 in Big Ten play., 

Sixth-year Chard’e Vanzandt led the offense with 22 kills, while fourth-years Claire Ammeraal and Milana Moisio contributed 49 assists and 20 digs, respectively.

“I think today we were just really determined and wanted to leave it all out there,” Vanzandt said. “We really put emphasis on having no regrets this year, so that’s what today was.”

Set One

Both teams were evenly matched from the start, but Iowa capitalized on a 5-1 scoring run to take a 13-9 lead, forcing a Minnesota timeout. 

Despite Minnesota’s heavy hitting, the Gophers were hampered by errors, specifically six errors while attacking and three from the service line in the first set alone. 

The Hawkeyes committed a combined six errors in those same categories, but still played with enough hustle to escape the first set with a 25-21 victory.

Set Two

A kill from first-year Carmel Vares got Iowa on the board first, but a 4-0 run gave Minnesota an edge. The Hawkeyes managed to collect themselves and pieced together a 3-0 run to narrow the gap to 15-11 before the media timeout. 

Although Iowa drew to within three points, Minnesota capitalized on their early momentum to take the second set, 25-19.

Set Three

The score tied five times before another 4-0 run propelled the Gophers to a 10-8 lead in the third set. Minutes later, another run tacked on another three points to Minnesota’s total, extending the Gophers’ lead to 14-10.

Despite Iowa’s attempts at a comeback, another three-point run from Minnesota put the Gophers up by five, subsequently closing out the third set, 25-18.

Set Four

The fourth set saw Minnesota narrowly win the race to 10 points by a margin of one. By the time a 3-0 Iowa run put the Hawkeyes up, 15-13, and forced a Gopher timeout, the two squads had combined for 12 ties and seven lead changes.

Minnesota’s offense had dominated the second and third sets, but it was Iowa’s time to shine again in the fourth, and the Hawkeyes held on for a 25-23 triumph to set up the deciding fifth set. 

Set Five

The Gophers got off to a hot start with a 3-1 early lead, but a Minnesota service error, followed by two kills from Ammeraal, gave the Hawkeyes their first lead of the fifth set. 

A 10-9 Gopher lead led to the Hawkeyes taking their first timeout of the set, returning to the court to give Vares her 15th kill of the day and tie the set for the eighth time.

In the end, after a fierce battle of nine ties and four lead changes, Minnesota took a narrow 15-12 victory to take the match, 3-2.

“We battled a 20th-ranked time and had our shot to beat them,” head coach Jim Barnes said. “We won the serve pass battle, which was a big deal. We were only aced twice, and that was exceptional, how well we handled their pressure.”

Up next

Iowa embarks on its final road trip of the season, traveling to face No. 1 Nebraska on Nov. 20 and No. 11 Wisconsin on Nov. 23.

The Cornhuskers sport an undefeated record that includes big wins over Penn State and Stanford. Meanwhile, the Badgers, who swept the Hawkeyes in Coralville on Sept. 28, have since bested UCLA, Michigan, and Illinois.

Iowa and Nebraska are set for a 7:00 p.m. start time on FS1, while the Hawkeyes and Badgers will commence at 1:00 p.m. on Big Ten Plus.