Olympic Sports Roundup: 10/25

By erut17 on October 26, 2021 at 2:00 pm @erut17
go B1G go
Big Ten
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It's a great time to be a Hawkeye sports fan, but that doesn't mean that we're immune to tough weeks. Even the best teams have weeks where it all goes wrong. Luckily, they've few and far between for Iowa sports lately and it just serves as another reminder of how strong performances have been for Iowa teams over the past few years. 

Note: Iowa's best Olympic sport this fall (field hockey) was on bye this week. They'll wrap up their regular season against #6 Northwestern (12-4) on Friday (2 PM CT, BTN). 

Soccer

  • The Hawkeye Soccer team has been rounding into form at the perfect time and kept up their strong play last week with a 1-0 win over Minnesota and a 1-1 draw with Wisconsin. The Hawks haven't lost in four matches and have won three of those four.
  • Iowa started the weekend strong with a 1-0 win over the Gophers on Thursday. It was a defensive battle throughout, but the Hawks continued to push and finally found their breakthrough in the 73rd minute when Kenzie Roling scored her sixth goal of the year. Iowa fended off the last of Minnesota's 13 shots to secure the win, which was Coach Dilanni's 300th career victory.
  • Iowa followed up their win with a hard-fought match against the Badgers which ended in a 1-1 draw. Iowa took an early lead when Alyssa Walker scored in the sixth minute. Iowa did all they could to hold the lead, but Wisconsin found an equalizer late in the first half. Macy Enneking, in only her second game back from injury, secured six saves in the match, denying the Badgers a game-winner.
  • The two results, along with a successful conference season, earned Iowa a share of 4th place in the conference and the 5th seed in this year's Big Ten Tournament. Their conference finish is the best for the Hawkeyes since 1999 and a marked improvement over last year's 12th place finish. 
  • The Hawks will kick off tournament play on Halloween against Michigan State. It will take some more magic for the Hawks to claim a second straight conference tournament championship, but these Hawkeyes have the same resilient DNA as last year's squad. Mix that with the strong form they've shown in the past few weeks and I think the team is well-positioned for another deep run.

Golf

  • The Iowa Women's Golf team spent the weekend in the Bahamas competing in the White Sands Invitational, finishing 7th. 
  • Iowa was led by Klara Wildhaber, who finished 17th on the weekend and notched her first Top 20 finish this year.
  • Senior Manuela Liarazu and freshman Paula Miranda each tied for 31st.
  • The Hawkeyes saved their best for last, shooting a weekend best 296 (+8) on Sunday, eight shots better than their Saturday round.
  • The Iowa golf team will take the winter off before returning on Jan 31st when Big Ten Match Play starts in Palm Harbor, Florida.

Swimming & Diving

  • Iowa swimming competed against Nebraska on Saturday, but fell short in Lincoln, losing 193-59.
  • Sam Tamborski continued her strong season on the diving side, winning the 1-meter springboard and finishing 2nd in the 3-meter. Sarah Ballard had a strong meet as well, finishing a spot behind Tamborski in both events.
  • The best performances on the swimming side came in the 200 medley relay and the 400 freestyle relay. Georgia Clark, Aleksandra Olesiak, Zoe Pawlowski, and Kennedy Gilbertson combined for the strong 200 performance, while Gilbertson, Olesiak, Pawlowski, as well as Payton Lange, made up the strong 400 relay team.
  • Iowa will next compete November 18th when the diving team takes part in the Georgia Tech Diving Invitational while the swimming team will take part in the Miami Invitational in Coral Gables, Florida.

Volleyball

  • The Hawkeye volleyball team's difficult season continued last week with Iowa falling to Nebraska and Northwestern.
  • The match against Nebraska was a three-set affair, but the Hawks showed a resolve they haven't shown often this year. They fought back from a 15-10 deficit in set one to trail only 19-17 and scored four straight down 24-18 in the second set before Nebraska was finally able to put them away. In the third set, Nebraska gained a 12-9 advantage and Iowa could have folded but instead fought back to take a 17-15 lead and continued to fight to a 23-23 tie before ultimately falling 26-24.
  • Saturday's match against Northwestern had the early shaping of a blowout, with Iowa falling 25-13 and 25-17 in the first two sets, but Iowa again showed some fight and took it to the Cats in the third set to earn a 25-13 set win. The Wildcats won the fourth set comfortably to win the match, but Iowa certainly has a few good things they can take from the match and the weekend.
  • Iowa may be outmatched in a conference as strong as the Big Ten, but seeing the team start to fight back from some of the deficits they find themselves in and take sets off of opponents is a good sign that the team is improving, even if the results aren't there yet.
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Iowa 106, Longwood 73: Strokin' It

go hawks go

The Hybrid: Sparty Off

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