Olympic sport wrap up: Not great!

It’s a rough life out there in the Big Ten.

The Iowa volleyball team learned this the hard way this weekend, as they hosted No. 7 Wisconsin and No. 3 Minnesota.

The Hawkeyes lost both matches in Iowa City, getting beat in three sets both times. Big Ten play is rough and after fighting Penn State for four sets last weekend, it’s not ludicrous to believe it might be the best volleyball conference in the land.

This is an Iowa team that’s still learning how to win and it’s going to take difficult losses to do so. There should be a lot of hope in this squad, of that I am convinced. It’s just one of those things where they really need a defining win to get on track.

They certainly had that opportunity this weekend. Iowa was close against Wisconsin (losing 25-17, 25-22, 25-17). The thing that really did the Hawkeyes in was errors — the Badgers committed five, while Iowa struggled to overcome 22 of their own.

The loss against Minnesota was close too, as the Hawkeyes fell 23-25, 22-25, 19-25 to the Gophers.

Just like in last weeks loss to Penn State, none of us are really here for moral victories but... even still, there are still positive signs.

Iowa gets No. 22 Michigan today and Nebraska on Saturday. Let’s pick up some wins.

Soccer ties Michigan, falls to Sparty in two-game road trip

Not a whole lot to say here. Iowa moves to 5-5-1 on the year and remains winless in Big Ten play.

Devin Burns scored in the 82nd minute to tie the Wolverines in Ann Arbor and avoid a loss. Reilly Martin scored twice for Michigan, with her second coming early in the second half.

Kaleigh Haus tied the game for the Hawkeyes moments before Martin took the lead for Michigan. The game went to overtime after Burns’ goal and neither team was able to gain an advantage in the extra minutes.

Iowa followed up the tie with a 3-2 loss to Michigan State.

"It was a difficult loss to accept today. The team competed all game, which is a big positive on a Friday and Sunday weekend,” Iowa head coach Dave DiIanni said to HawkeyeSports. “But we aren't doing enough to help ourselves out for long enough periods of time all over the field and today it cost us three points."

The Hawkeyes are now 5-5-1 on the year, with an 0-3-1 mark in conference play. Iowa hosts Rutgers on Thursday and then Maryland on Sunday.

Field hockey gets first Big Ten win of the year

The Iowa field hockey team finally got in the win column in the conference with a 4-3 win over Indiana.

Katie Birch had the third hat-trick of her career in the win while Mya Christopher had the other score for the Hawkeyes. It was Christopher’s — a freshman — first goal of her Iowa career.

"I'm happy that we came away with the win. It was a tough game to play. Indiana has a lot of grit and kept countering on us after we scored,” Iowa head coach Lisa Cellucci said to HawkeyeSports. “The message to our team was to stick to our plan. That last play put us in a difficult situation, with Indiana's entire team on the penalty circle, but we stood tall and it was a great block by Katie Birch to end the game."

The team is now 5-7 on the season with an 1-3 mark in Big Ten games. Iowa has just one game this weekend, a Sunday matchup with Duke.

Other odds and ends:

The Iowa softball team went 1-1-1 beat Drake 6-5, tying Iowa State 3-3 and falling to Northern Iowa, 3-0.

The team finishes up its fall slate with a doubleheader against Northern Illinois this weekend.

Hawkeye junior cross country runner Andrea Shine picked up a fifth-place finish (17:16, a PR) at the Joe Piane Invitational as the team came in sixth overall. Madison Waymire was again strong, finishing 12th overall with a 17:36.

The Iowa men finished 14th, led by Nathan Mylenek (44th) who was competing in his first 5k as a Hawkeye.

"Andrea (Shine) and Madison (Waymire) competed well up front again,” Iowa head coach Randy Hasenbank said to HawkeyeSports. “They had a very aggressive mentality right from the gun. The competition was stout, but I felt like we held our own. "