Thursday, March 28, 2024

Iowa, Minnesota pose considerable road threats

November 2, 2001

Knocking off two conference opponents on consecutive nights is no easy task.

Doing it twice is down-right tough.

The weekend of Sept. 28 and 29, the Spartans defeated Minnesota and Iowa at Jenison Field House, 3-0 and 3-1, respectively. And now, the Spartans (13-6, 6-6 Big Ten) will try and repeat the task, this time on the road, with the first step at 7 p.m. CST today against Iowa (3-16, 1-11).

At 7 p.m. CST Saturday the Spartans close out the tough weekend against the No. 24 Golden Gophers (12-8, 6-6).

Spartan head coach Chuck Erbe said the games aren’t just tough conference road matches, but takes on an even larger importance for the Spartans’ long-range goals.

“The biggest challenge with this team is being on the road, where we’re away from our comfort zone,” he said. “And (winning) these road matches are that much more crucial for us to be in the NCAA Tournament.”

Spartan assistant coach Todd Dagenais said the weekend will be a good measuring point for the team in regards to its consistency away from Jenison.

“It’s going to be another challenge in our developmental process,” he said. “We’ve been able to sustain and play well at home, but now can we go and do that on the road?”

The Hawkeyes rely heavily on outside hitter Sara Meyermann, their primary offensive weapon. Meyermann’s 386 kills and 1,007 attack attempts more than double the numbers for any other Hawkeye.

“ You have to slow Meyermann down,” Dagenais said. “We’ll shoot to keep her under 20 kills and everyone else in the six or seven kill range.

“Also, we have to take advantage of what is given to us by Iowa being so dependent on her.”

In contrast, Minnesota has a variety of weapons to challenge the Spartans defense, but its offense begins and ends with setter Lindsey Berg. And stopping her is more of a challenge.

“Lindsey Berg’s one of the best setters in the nation,” Dagenais said. “We limited her last time by serving tough and making her run all over the floor.”

The Golden Gophers are traditionally tough at their home floor, the Sports Pavilion.

“I think that Minnesota has always been a tough place to play,” junior outside hitter Kyla Smith said. “But if we can pull off a victory there it’ll be a huge win for us because it’ll really help our tournament bid.”

Erbe said the battle with the Gophers means a lot, and not just to the Spartans.

“We’re battling for a lot of the same things - we’re both 6-6 in conference and both teams know that it’s a match that can separate us,” he said. “And it’ll be an emotional and highly intense match because, certainly, they don’t feel good about losing 3-0 here, and they’re going to want to make up for that.”

Both weekend matches aren’t necessarily guaranteed Spartan victories, even with the Spartans already downing both teams.

“It’s always hard to beat a team twice because when you beat somebody, you don’t know what adjustments to make, but the other team does,” Dagenais said.

Sophomore defensive specialist Emmy Miller said the team realizes the previous wins don’t mean too much, except to remind them of their capabilities.

“It’s different this time, especially playing them on the road,” Miller said. “On the road, it’s always a different game.

“If we play at the level we know we can play at, because we’ve already beat these teams, I’m confident we can do it again.”

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