The Hawkeyes will have three games this weekend in the Northern Illinois Tournament.
By Kyle Mann
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Iowa volleyball fans ended last season riding a high that they hadn’t felt in quite some time, matching their most victories and most conference wins since 2008.
Led by second-year head coach Bond Shymansky, the Hawkeyes will try to pick up where they left off as they begin the season this weekend in the Northern Illinois Tournament.
The first serve of 2015 will come at 10 a.m. Saturday against South Dakota State, which went 6-27 overall, 0-16 in the Summit League in 2014-15. The Hawkeyes encountered the Jackrabbits last season in the South Dakota State Challenge, winning the match in straight sets.
The Hawkeyes would never want to pencil in a win and take an opponent lightly, particularly early in the season, but the team is heading into this weekend striving for nothing less than a 3-0 record. More importantly, it will be the Hawks’ first opportunity to gel with eight new players.
“We want to see our system take shape in terms of our offensive fluidity,” Shymansky said. “We want to see the new players gel with the returning players, and we want to see victories.”
Three games in two days will be an early test of stamina, but at this point in the season, the the Hawkeyes are eager, and they need meaningful reps in a competitive setting. In that regard, these early season tournaments can be particularly valuable to a team getting a feel for itself.
“We’re going to see three very, very different teams,” Shymansky said. “So we need to make sure we keep our team identity all the way through and not be influenced by our opponent.”
The Hawks will enjoy a short break over lunch on Saturday, then hit the floor again at 2:30 p.m. against Pacific. A stark contrast from the lowly Jackrabbits, the Tigers were 24-7 overall, 13-5 in the West Coast Conference.
The Hawkeyes will need their offense to click sooner rather than later, because Pacific is good enough to make them pay for too much lollygagging. Shymansky will likely keep a close eye on the performance of sophomore transfer Annika Olsen, who is expected to bring drastic improvement to Iowa’s serve-receive and first contact as the starting libero.
Olsen, heading into the opening weekend, is confident in her ability.
“Passing consistently is definitely something that’s really important, and that’s something that I always bring to a team,” Olsen said. “I’m really looking forward to helping improve that and seeing our hard work pay off.”
The final match of the weekend will be 2 p.m. Aug. 30 against host Northern Illinois. The Huskies were 21-10 in 2014, 14-2 in the MAC and 9-3 on their home floor. With any luck, Iowa will play for a tournament title, and with so many new faces on the floor, could cap a pleasantly surprising weekend.
One of those surprises could be Taylr McNeil, who appears poised to breakout for Shymansky. She led South Carolina in kills last season, would have led the Hawkeyes, and has worked her way into Iowa’s starting lineup.
McNeil is also going into the tournament with her head high and shares the mindset that the team should use this weekend to mesh.
“I do think I’ll make a good impact,” McNeil said. “We just need to show we have team chemistry, and play well together, and walk out of there knowing we did our best.”
Follow @KyleFMann for news, updates, and analysis of Iowa volleyball.
