Despite dropping the match, 3-0, the Hawkeyes believe they found their identity in a close third set.

By Kyle Mann
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Despite dropping two matches over the weekend to No. 16 Wisconsin and No. 9 Minnesota, the Iowa volleyball Hawkeyes came out of the weekend believing they’d found themselves.

After being largely dominated in the first two sets with Minnesota on Oct. 24, the Hawkeyes went to the locker room during the intermission searching for ways to climb back into the match. There, head coach Bond Shymansky delivered a speech that rallied his troops and produced a hard-fought third set.

“In between Sets 2 and 3, we got a nice locker-room speech from Bond, and we got our confidence back,” Mikaela Gunderson said. “He was telling us we need to play Iowa volleyball, and it’s time to get back to where we were, start winning again, and get into those moments to feel the passion and intensity we were feeling.”

The Hawkeyes ultimately dropped the set and the match, but a shift was noticeable on the court.

The Gophers jumped out to a 14-7 lead, and just when it seemed the third set would be similarly dominant for them, the Hawkeyes rattled off a 6-2 run to tie the set at 21. The teams traded ties until a potential game point with the Hawkeyes leading, 24-23, was awarded to Minnesota on a controversial call by the referees.

Shymansky was incensed at the call, and let the officials hear about it. Despite the eventual loss, both he and his team went down swinging. Along the way, he felt his team had rediscovered its identity.

“We certainly found ourselves again, the captains talked about how they kind of needed that reignition to remember what it was like to compete with their absolute hardest effort,” he said. “They believed that their competition was going to get them victory on each given point. Our team is certainly hungry to respond and continue that momentum.”

So the Hawkeyes found themselves back at what could be considered to be their peak in Big Ten play, which is to have been highly competitive with a top-ranked team in the country. It’s difficult to decipher among an 0-10 conference record at which points they had momentum, but they definitely have before.

Now, they find themselves faced with what has been their biggest challenge throughout, maintaining their confidence and momentum. It’s been a story all season long, but the players trumpeted a sentiment that would indicate they truly have found their footing this time.

“Throughout the past couple of weeks, we’ve been trying to find ourselves, to find the team that beat Iowa State and Texas A&M, and I think we just found it,” Loxley Keala said after the Minnesota loss. “Though we didn’t get the result we wanted, we found our identity again … so everyone in the league better watch out. Because we’re back.”

The Hawks will have a good opportunity to prove themselves this weekend, with bottom-dwellers Maryland and Rutgers coming to Carver-Hawkeye.

With Iowa at 0-10 in the conference, it is imperative that they defeat the two 1-9 teams ahead of them. It will be difficult to rally and rediscover themselves again if they don’t.