Iowa City Today

Iowa Hawkeyes women’s volleyball will play two matches in Illinois this week, facing Northwestern on Friday at Welsh-Ryan Arena and Illinois on Sunday at Huff Hall. The match against Northwestern is scheduled for 7 p.m. Central Time, while the contest with Illinois will begin at 1 p.m.

Both matches will be available for streaming on B1G+. Fans can also listen to the broadcasts on the Hawkeye Radio Network via YouTube, with John Evans providing commentary. Live statistics are accessible through the volleyball schedule page at hawkeyesports.com, and updates will be posted on Iowa Volleyball’s social media channels and website.

Junior middle hitter Hannah Whittingstall was recognized as the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week after her performance last weekend, where she led Iowa in blocks and achieved a double-double during a 2-0 stretch for the team. “Whittingstall hit a team-high .636 in the victory, converting on 14-of-22 swings without committing an error,” according to Iowa Athletics. She totaled 28 kills and 15 blocks over wins against Michigan State and Rutgers, averaging 1.67 blocks per set. This marks Iowa’s first defensive player of the week honor since 2013.

The Hawkeyes recently avenged an earlier loss to Michigan State by winning in four sets and secured their second five-set victory of the season with a win over Rutgers. Libero Milana Moisio currently leads the Big Ten with 300 digs, while Whittingstall is second in blocks with 98. Setter Claire Ammeraal is second in assists (773) within the conference and has six double-doubles this season; she is also notable as the only setter in the league with more than 100 kills (125). As a team, Iowa ranks third in total blocks (199.5).

Several individual milestones are approaching: Ammeraal is 26 digs away from reaching 900 career digs; Jaimie Marquardt needs two aces to reach 30; Greta Schlichter is nearing her 500th dig; Hallie Steponaitis requires 19 more kills for her season century mark; Chard’e Vanzandt is close to both her season’s and career kill milestones; Carmel Vares needs additional kills for her own seasonal benchmark; Whittingstall is six kills away from her career 400th and eight blocks from reaching 250.

Northwestern enters Friday’s matchup with a record of 13-9 overall and three conference wins—already matching last year’s total—and has added several transfers along with new freshmen to its roster. The Wildcats’ offense relies on Ayah Elnady, Rylen Reid, and Isabella Bullington, each surpassing 200 kills this season. Defensively, Northwestern leads the Big Ten in team digs (1,097), led by Elnady’s individual contribution of 176 digs.

Illinois stands at 12-7 overall and holds a conference record of seven wins against three losses. They have notable victories over ranked opponents such as No.10 Purdue and have swept multiple conference teams this year. Kenna Phelan was named Big Ten Setter of the Week earlier this season after strong performances against Oregon and Purdue; she now ranks eighth in assists among conference setters.

Reflecting on last weekend's results, Iowa won both conference matches for just the second time since early last season—including their first reverse sweep since 2022—demonstrating resilience after dropping opening sets against Rutgers before winning three straight.

Looking ahead, Iowa continues its road schedule next weekend with consecutive matches against Indiana and Purdue.