For a team that hadn’t won more than six conference games since the turn of the millennium, “bubble talk” sounds pretty good right now.
The Iowa women’s volleyball team needs one win in its final two matches of the season to finish .500 or better in the Big Ten and clinch the program’s first 20-win season since 1994.
Senior setter Loxley Keala, a 2013 ‘Iolani graduate, has played a huge role in making the Hawkeyes a potential NCAA tournament team since she transferred from Missouri after her sophomore season.
Keala, who is fourth in the Big Ten averaging 11.15 assists per set, will lead Iowa against No. 3 Wisconsin on the road tonight before finishing the season at home versus No. 14 Michigan State on Saturday.
The NCAA tournament selection show is Sunday and the Hawkeyes are ranked No. 68 in the RPI with two marquee games back-to-back to close out the year.
“I think we’re right on the bubble and we’re taking every match as equally important as any other game,” said Keala, who has posted back-to-back 1,000-assist seasons. “These next two matches are a great matchup for us. I think a lot of teams have trouble with the offense that we run and the complexity, the speed and the tempo, and that’s going to be a big factor.”
Keala warmed up for the Big Ten by playing two years in the SEC with the Tigers, and joined a Hawkeyes team that played in Europe over the summer.
Iowa visited Germany, Belgium and Poland to play a variety of teams at different levels, and Keala thinks it has played a big part in the team’s success this season.
“Being in a foreign country with 16 of your teammates is very challenging because it was 10 days and we were getting maybe five hours of sleep a night and playing professional and national teams,” Keala said. “It was great volleyball and we won a few matches and I think it gave us confidence coming back to the states that we can win some of these close matches.”
Iowa is 6-3 in matches that go at least four sets. The Hawkeyes are 19-11 overall and 9-9 in a conference that includes No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Minnesota, No. 3 Wisconsin, No. 14 Michigan State, No. 15 Penn State and No. 18 Michigan.
Iowa is 0-8 against those teams and 19-1 versus everyone else.
To finish .500 in conference and reach the 20-win mark, the Hawkeyes will have to break that 0-for-8 streak against those teams.
“Our coach has done a really good job of changing the culture around here and turning things around and we have an opportunity to show that,” Keala said.
Iowa lost in three sets to the top-ranked Cornhuskers last Saturday at home. The match drew a school-record 4,131 fans to Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The previous high was 3,102.
Iowa ranks in the top 20 in the nation in attendance and is 11-4 at home.
“I think a lot of people are coming out and interested because we’ve been doing well in the regular season and it has piqued people’s interest and now they are jumping on board,” Keala said. “It’s definitely real exciting. We’ve got all of the Hawkeye support throughout the community.”
Keala’s parents are already in town and will make the drive to Madison, Wis., for tonight’s match before attending senior day on Saturday.
Her sister, Logan, was a three-year starter at Colgate University.
Logan played high school at Kamehameha, while Loxley played for ‘Iolani, which last month beat Kamehameha to win the Raiders’ first state championship since 2001.
“It’s about time we held up another black banner,” Loxley said. “I’m definitely so proud of them and I know (coach) Kainoa (Obrey) is doing a great job grooming them to be state champions. I’m so excited for ‘Iolani to be recognized again as one of the top volleyball programs in the country.”
