IOWA CITY — Jim Barnes did not dance around it. After the Iowa volleyball team committed more than 20 attack errors in each match during the Big Ten/SEC Challenge last week, he confronted his team’s miscues head-on.
Iowa's Carmel Vares, right, attempts to block a kill attempt from Maryland's Olivia Ruy during a match against the Terrapins at Xtream Arena in Coralville on Thursday, Sept. 25
“It was a rough one because we had opportunities,” Barnes said. “We had control of sets, and we would make our own mistakes to give them back the game, and that’s a tough part.”
The Hawkeyes led the first set against Mississippi State 15-9 last Thursday, only to give up 10 straight points to fall behind 19-15 and ultimately lose the set.
“We went up to start the first set, and really felt like, hey, this is how we play,” Barnes said. “And, then we had a player or two start stumbling, and the pressure melted, and we ended up losing by two points.
“We didn’t react well to the pressure, and we had the talent and the ability to do it, but under pressure, we didn’t execute like we should.”
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Iowa also held a late 22-20 lead in the second set, which they lost 25-23, and failed to maintain the momentum of a third set victory, blowing a 17-14 lead in the fourth set to lose 3-1 (25-23, 25-23, 24-26, 25-20). The Hawkeyes committed 24 attack errors, 10 service errors and seven reception errors against the Bulldogs.
“We won that set, and then we go into the fourth, and we are playing well again,” Barnes said. “We have the lead, and then it gets towards the end of that set, and we stumble again and give them the set. We got to learn how to execute all the way to 25.”
Against Alabama on Friday, Iowa failed to roll a second-set win into the rest of the match and fell 3-1 (25-22, 21-25, 25-20, 25-18). The Hawkeyes committed 21 attack errors, six service errors and six reception errors against the Crimson Tide.
Barnes attributed some of Iowa's struggles to its relative lack of experience playing together.
"When I reevaluate where our team is and what we're doing, to try to get a little perspective, is of all the players on the court, there's only one that's a returning starter that played her position," Barnes said. "And, she's only a three rotation player — Hannah (Whittingstall). Carmel (Vares) is the other returning starter, but we've changed her position. Everybody else is a first-time starter working together.
"Under pressure is when you start truly seeing where we are, and that was the first time we were under pressure, and we had certain players kind of falter right when we needed to finish off sets."
Moving forward, Barnes said he wants to see his team show toughness under pressure starting this Tuesday in Ames against Iowa State (4-1, 0-0 Big 12).
“We just talked about under pressure, we got to be tough, and we got to stay united, and we might make a mistake, but we can't put them back to back,” Barnes said. “… We got to learn from that going into this one because Iowa State will be playing extremely hard, and so will we. We just got to play better when the pressure's on.”
He also said he wants to see his team get its block up more consistently in Hilton Coliseum tomorrow night.
“Our middles are going to really have to hustle and slow them down with blocks,” Barnes said. “Our blocking is what was the most disappointing on the road. We only had four in each match, and we've been blocking really well. We got to get that block back to really set the tone. We need more blocks against Iowa State, and we need people just to play consistent. We can't have where we lose our ability to execute 5-6-7 times in a row.”
He also said he expects Iowa to be able to lean into its early road experience, with six straight road matches to start 2026, and use the sour taste of this weekend as motivation.
“I think you draw on it, and honestly, just use it for fuel because all the girls are so disappointed that we didn't step up like we know we're capable,” Barnes said. “I hope we take that energy into this one. I'm sure we will. But we wanted to go on the road for the first part of the season, really to learn and to have fewer distractions and get to work. … Right now, it's taking what we've learned and taking that energy into a team that our team’s marked on the calendar and want to go there and beat.”
Tuesday’s match against Iowa State will be broadcast on ESPN+ (subscription required) and the Hawkeye Radio Network. The match begins at 6:30 p.m.
Iowa returns home on Thursday for its home opener against Southern Illinois at 6 p.m. in Xtream Arena in Coralville to open the Hawkeye Invitational. The Hawkeyes will also face Incarnate Word (6 p.m., Friday) and Missouri State (1 p.m., Saturday). All three matches will be available on Big Ten+ (subscription required).
Ethan Petrik is a University of Iowa beat writer for the Lee Enterprises network. Follow him on X or send him an email at ethan.petrik@wcfcourier.com.
