Hey if you wanna watch the Iowa volleyball team get stomped by #1 Wisconsin, tune into BTN on Wednesday night!!! 
Just sayin..........
Just sayin..........
Iowa volleyball on TV this Wednesday
- Thread starter EvilMonkeyInTheCloset
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This is the only match that I will not be rooting for the Hawks to win. The B1G Ten has become a hotbed of great women's volleyball. There are no easy outs. Although I have not seen them play, their record demonstrates they are improved.Hey if you wanna watch the Iowa volleyball team get stomped by #1 Wisconsin, tune into BTN on Wednesday night!!!
Just sayin..........
Hot girls in tight shorts? Who cares about the damn score?Hey if you wanna watch the Iowa volleyball team get stomped by #1 Wisconsin, tune into BTN on Wednesday night!!!
Just sayin..........
This will unfortunately not be very competitive. Hawks have a long way to go to get to that point.
You haven’t been watching the team then. They went 5 sets with #9 Minn. They played Wisc very close. Scored the 2nd most points on them in the Big 10. The team is very much improving. They put up a hell of a fight and they have 4-5 new starters. They have 8 wins so for. Won 10 matches last year. I see them getting to about 14 wins this year.
We have definitely looked improved at times. We were up 2-0 on ISU and ended up losing set 3 26-24. Had we been able to hold on, we'd have beaten the Clones 3-0, instead they pulled off the reverse sweep OTOH, it was classic Iowa VB vs Grand Canyon, losing 3-0 and looking bad doing it.
I had hopes we could get one win between Indiana and Illinois, but we got swept in both
We got a good transfer in Buettner, very talented and a real power hitter; unfortunately she's only here for one season. If we could put together a rotation of that caliber of player, we'd be in the upper half of the Big 10. Our 6'7" middle McSweeney is also gone after this season.
OTOH, it was classic Iowa VB vs Grand Canyon, losing 3-0 and looking bad doing it.I had hopes we could get one win between Indiana and Illinois, but we got swept in both
We got a good transfer in Buettner, very talented and a real power hitter; unfortunately she's only here for one season. If we could put together a rotation of that caliber of player, we'd be in the upper half of the Big 10. Our 6'7" middle McSweeney is also gone after this season.
I have watched actually & was pleasantly surprised with their performance. They played better against Wisconsin than they did against Indiana, Illinois, Ohio State, Syracuse, Cornell, etc. The team struggles to pass & set which puts them in a difficult position every match.
I really like how hard they play and they have a great game plan it appears giving these top teams big headaches. Just need more talent. I love the talent brought in this first recruit year. Moravic and Buettner are amazing. Mateo has big talent but setting is like a freshmen. Another year or 2 of this kind of talent and the table will turn. .
I was only able to watch the first set but was not surprised by the performance of either team last night. As I had mentioned previously, the Hawks are improving and I suspect they will continue to do so. Recruiting is always important. Fortunately, I think there are a growing number of excellent prospects right here in Iowa. Best wishes the rest of the season.
Recruiting only matters if you can keep them here. Lately our best players have transferred out. Doubt it has anything to do with Iowa/Barnes necessarily. They just want to play with an established winning program rather than help build a program. It's just become too damn easy to transfer.
They only lost 1 good player from last year but yea the portal makes that a challenge to all. I think after they get passed the next couple of ranked teams they have several teams they can get. If they can stay healthy. Physically and mentally through this murder row of a league.
6'7"?..............Sign her to the basketball squad right MEOW!!!We have definitely looked improved at times. We were up 2-0 on ISU and ended up losing set 3 26-24. Had we been able to hold on, we'd have beaten the Clones 3-0, instead they pulled off the reverse sweep
I had hopes we could get one win between Indiana and Illinois, but we got swept in both
We got a good transfer in Buettner, very talented and a real power hitter; unfortunately she's only here for one season. If we could put together a rotation of that caliber of player, we'd be in the upper half of the Big 10. Our 6'7" middle McSweeney is also gone after this season.
Well...they couldn't have started any worse. Seems like a typical Iowa volleyball team. Talent isn't there to compete in this league. Not sure how you get out of the bottom tier winning 3-4 conference matches a year. Top in-state talent doesn't want anything to do with the program & all the border states are much more successful. I would think the staff gets two more years max to turn it around.
Fold volleyball and bring in women's ice hockey.
Or better yet, fold volleyball so we can have men's soccer or hockey.
Shymansky was making progress, then came the incident with him paying a player's rent. I've wondered where we'd be if Barta had him apologize profusely, accept a pay cut, give up a couple of scholarships and postseason eligibility for a couple of years, but keep him as coach. Because, he's the only VB coach we've had that even moved the needle, going back decades.
To be fair, it's tough when your conference schedule has you playing one or sometimes two Top 20 teams almost every week. It would be like Gillispie trying to take a bottom SEC softball team and make it competitive.
To be fair, it's tough when your conference schedule has you playing one or sometimes two Top 20 teams almost every week. It would be like Gillispie trying to take a bottom SEC softball team and make it competitive.
This coaching staff has the team playing very hard. When they get the talent they will win. They had set point 4 times to go up 2-1 on MSU. Just fell short. But the effort and attitude is always there.
I appreciate your enthusiasm. The last 20 win season for Iowa volleyball was 1994. No coach has been able to get the talent you speak of to come to Iowa City & looking at the 2024 recruiting class, much help isn't on the way. The 25 class has 2 verbal commits. There are at least 10 other schools in the league who consistently bring in better players.
2024 class has one of the top kids in the class from Hawaii. Left handed bomber. The best setter and Libero in the state of ILL and a big Leftside from Houston. And I’m sure they will get 1-2 players from the portal.
It’s coming.
It’s coming.
Team drops to 0-11 in conference play after the loss to Rutgers. What's coming in isn't going to make a significant difference. The type of player Iowa is bringing in struggles to compete in the Big 10. The best setter in Illinois you mentioned was committed to Gonzaga previously (6-23 last year & 3-17 currently), the libero is actually a setter that plays libero only during club season, & the pin from Houston is not a difference maker at this point. Their RPI is over 200.
That was some of the worst volleyball I’ve seen in a long time. Iowa has a LONG, LONG ways to go to even be decent.
I believe tonight was worse. This team could very well go winless in conference. It's like a Missouri Valley team trying to play in the Big Ten.
I think Drake and UNI would be more competitive in the Big Ten than Iowa. If you have ESPN+, you can watch their games. Drake has a hitter who is at least as good as Buettner, and UNI has a tall setter a lot like Maryland's. And neither has to rotate 3 different liberos to try to find one that can receive a serve, like Iowa did against the Terps. To me, they look like their confidence is completely shot. Our talent isn't great, but the team is a lot worse than the sum of the individual players. Unfortunately, have to say Barnes has made zero progress in two seasons, despite hitting the transfer portal hard. Might as well have kept Vicki Brown. Or hired Cindy Fredrick back.
Barnes is a proven winner, and does seem to be getting the most out of his players. It's just in the B1G, even before the first serve you can see they are overmatched athletically. They're a good team. They had a decent non-conference season. It's just top-to-bottom this is the strongest the B1G has ever been. They say that every year, but this year I think it's true. A team like the Minnesota Gophers is only 6-6!
Barnes has a huge challenge. Not only do you have to recruit to a school with no volleyball history, and honestly a lousy volleyball game atmosphere. But in this era, even if you do get a stud to commit, you also have to worry about other teams stealing her away every year..
Barnes has a huge challenge. Not only do you have to recruit to a school with no volleyball history, and honestly a lousy volleyball game atmosphere. But in this era, even if you do get a stud to commit, you also have to worry about other teams stealing her away every year..
Cindy Fredrick had a similar reputation when she arrived, following the usual national search. But to your point, I thought Maryland, aside from a few glitches here and there, looked pretty strong for a 9th place team. More broadly, my impression is that there are more good VB players than ever, and that they start earlier. 10 years ago my local high school team could hardly return serves, and they're still not a powerhouse but they consistently win 20 or so per season, with greatly improved fundamentals. That seems to percolate up to the college level. Re: Minnesota, not only have they been losing, they lost 0-3 a couple of times!
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Shymansky was the one that would've got the job done. Definitely had an eye for talent. He brought in Courtney Buzzerio who ended up being an All-American at Pitt as a grad transfer and making the national semifinals. Losing her was major blow to Barnes first year. It worked out for her though.
This is a down year for Big 10 volleyball. Nebraska, Wisconsin, Purdue, & Penn State are the only locks for the tournament. The next group is 7-5 Illinois, Minnesota 6-6, Indiana 6-6, MSU 6-6. They're taking each other out. RPI for Illinois & MSU is near 100, they likely won't make the tournament. Minnesota or Indiana could depending on how they finish. I don't see more than 5 getting in.
Yup, a big loss for us, not many 6'5" setters out there. I see Pitt had her listed as RS, I suppose they already had an established setter.
I believe we had to forfeit 2-3 years of Bonds seasons due to cheating. So taking over a program with over 25 years of losing and coming off ncaa sanctions an 0-40 record, it’s no wonder the program is starting from the absolute bottom. This team was patched together through all that and I count 6-7 of them out due to injury. Buettner, who has talent, has been “nicked up” according to one of the interviews. And you can tell she isn’t as good as she started. Not sure why Urquhart wasn’t dressed out for the last week. These were matches they had a chance in. That Iowa got a proven winner to take this job was surprising. Not sure many would step into this mess of a program. The effort and teamwork is always there and that’s impressive under these conditions, I don’t care what anyone says. Just not enough talent and too many injuries.
Iowa is consistently one of the least talented teams in the league. Any elite player would have a significant list of colleges to choose from before the Hawks would even be considered. I believe 1994 was their last NCAA tournament appearance. Players want to win, get to the tourney, play in front of large crowds, etc. Hard to sell a losing program with no history. If they were serious about getting better they'd need a volleyball performance/practice facility, offer 750K for coaching salaries to upgrade from head coach down, and have a volleyball only NIL program generating at least 250K per year (flying to away matches used to be a big deal but it seems most P5 schools do that now). I believe the practice facility is in future plans. I don't think this staff will be around to see if it helps.
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