The Hoosiers accomplished a feat Saturday they had not achieved since 2006. However, it was not one to be proud of.
The Iowa Hawkeyes’ 3-0 win over IU marked the fifth straight match the Hoosiers have failed to win a single set. IU last did this 10 years ago in the midst of a 19-match losing streak en route to a disappointing 10-22, 1-19 record.
The 2016 Hoosiers are now 12-7, 1-5, and have lost five straight matches.
Before the loss in Iowa City, the Hoosiers traveled to No. 3 Nebraska (13-1, 4-1) and played the defending NCAA Tournament champions competitively in the first set.
IU led 23-22 late in set one before the Cornhuskers ultimately won three of the next four points to close it out.
The Hoosiers’ fight dissipated in the second set after forcing 15 ties and 7 lead changes in the first and Nebraska dominated them 25-13 then 25-17 to complete the sweep.
Sophomore right side hitter Elizabeth Asdell stood out for IU and led the team with nine kills. She trailed only freshman middle blocker Hayden Huybers’ .400 hitting percentage with a solid .312 rate of her own.
Saturday night’s match at Iowa (14-4, 4-2) was a repeat of the night before. After a gritty, well-fought 24-26 loss in set one, the Hoosiers did not manage 20 points in either of the other two sets.
IU squandered its late first set lead of 24-23 after Iowa head coach Bond Shymansky smartly called timeout and his team responded with three straight points to take the 1-0 set lead.
“I thought we followed the gameplan in the first set,” IU Coach Sherry Dunbar-Kruzan said in a release from IU Athletics. “We had too many errors on our side, but we still had a chance to win the set. I talked to them after the first set about learning from Nebraska. We needed to come out on fire in that second set and put out even more. If we go to the break 1-1, now that is a match.”
The second set began just as tight as the first, and the teams were knotted up at eight points.
Then, an Iowa onslaught occurred and the Hawkeyes took a 14-8 lead. Dunbar-Kruzan said the string of points knocked her team off their gameplan.
“We backed away from the challenge,” Dunbar-Kruzan said in the release. “I felt like we gave them confidence and then they started playing fearless. It’s disappointing because I think we are a better team than we are showing right now. It’s on us. We have to figure it out and turn it around quickly and we are capable of doing that.”
IU’s starting middle blockers, freshman Deyshia Lofton and senior Jazzmine McDonald, were menaces at the net and each contributed four blocks. McDonald recorded the 200th block of her career in the loss.
Freshman outside hitter Kendall Beerman did her best to try keeping IU in the match, as she recorded a team-high 14 kills, including eight in the first set alone.
“Nothing is easy in the Big Ten,” Shymansky told Iowa Athletics. “A 3-0 victory in or out of conference play is good fortitude by our group to focus all the way through. People are coming to Carver to see top-level Big Ten volleyball. That’s what’s happening here every night, and we are really doing a good job of defending our home court.”
