The Hawkeyes fell in straight sets to the deeper, more talented Nittany Lions.
By Kyle mann
The Iowa volleyball team played host on Wednesday night to No. 1 Penn State, and despite showing glimpses of quality volleyball, dropped the match in straight sets.
Iowa claimed a lead early in the first set, leading 3-1, 4-2, and 5-3, before allowing Penn State to even the score at 5. The teams traded ties through point 8, when the Nittany Lions began to show why they are among the most daunting teams in the nation.
Penn State used a 4-0 run to roar ahead at 12-8 and largely controlled the set from that point on. Iowa didn’t allow itself to be dominated, but the Big Ten’s top blocking team and second in the country clamped down on the Hawkeye offense.
After several clean swings in the early going, Penn State ultimately finished with only 2 blocks in the set but allowed Iowa only a .225 hitting percentage. Iowa also made eight errors, opposed to the Lions’ four.
Unforced errors turned out to be the Hawkeyes’ Achilles’ heel all night, which simply won’t fly against such quality competition.
“Those points are the most important points, way more important than a huge kill or any of that,” Jess Janota said. “Taking care of those, especially after 20, is what we need to do.”
A 7-1 run by Penn State gave the visitors a 22-13 lead and prompted a Hawkeye time-out. It was all for naught, however, as they went on to drop the set, 25-16.
Penn State jumped ahead in the second set, leading 4-3 before Iowa launched a 6-1 run using three Penn State errors to claim a 9-5 lead and prompt a time-out.
The Nittany Lions showed once again, however, why they are the top-ranked team in the country. Shoring up their offense, they put together a 5-1 run out of the huddle to tie the set at 10 and subsequently lay claim to a 17-14 advantage, forcing Iowa head coach Bond Shymansky to take a time-out of his own.
Shymansky’s team remained pesky through the remainder of the set, staying within 1 or 2 points until the bitter end. They had opportunities to tie the set at every point after 19, but once again — nine total errors, particularly six service errors — sunk the Hawkeyes in the 25-23 loss despite out-hitting Penn State .387-.290.
“Especially first-contact errors, you make a serving or a passing error, and you feel like you never gave yourself a chance to win a point,” Shymansky said. “You lose points so fast that way, and you want to grind and rally and do whatever you can … but when you’re giving away points on service errors, giving away points on passing errors, it’s just too much to overcome against a No. 1 team.”
The third set really can’t be called much else other than a showcase, again, for why Penn State is the best team in the country. Iowa leapt out to a 3-1 advantage, but the Nittany Lions responded with an 11-3 run to force Iowa into a time-out trailing, 12-6.
The match was fairly even from then on, but Penn State had all the separation it needed and didn’t depart from anything it had done to get it. The Lions closed out the match with a 25-18 victory.
“[Errors are] definitely something that we need to clean up,” Lauren Brobst said. “We do it every day in practice, we do it well every day in practice. Tonight, we just lost focus.”
Brobst led with 10 kills, while Janota had 9 on a .412 hitting percentage. The bottom line, however, was Iowa’s 29 total errors.
Iowa will try to bounce back at Wisconsin on Saturday.
