It was another busy week for Hawkeye sports last week. Even with the men's and women's golf teams taking the week off and the season finishing up for the gymnastics team, five different Iowa teams were still in action last week.

Let's dive in.

Iowa softball put together their best week of the season last week, sweeping Michigan State on the road in dominating fashion.

The Hawks were on the Spartans from the jump, blowing out MSU in game one, 14-2. Nia Carter drove home two run in the 2nd to get the scoring started and from there the Hawks were off to the races. Iowa added two more runs in the second and five more in the third (including another RBI from Carter) to break the game open.

Breanna Vasquez continued her strong season on the mound, pitching five innings and striking out five. The Spartans plated two in the 5th to avoid the run-rule, but the Hawks put together another big inning, scoring five in the 7th (including two more Carter RBIs) to leave no room for doubt. Carter ended the day 4-5 with two runs and five RBIs, but she was just warming up.

The Hawks and Spartans played a doubleheader Sunday and Iowa came away with two more convincing wins, 4-2 and 3-1. In the first game, Jalen Carter pitched a gem, throwing a complete game and allowing just two runs while striking out four. Carter was 2-4 in the game, but the Hawks also got big RBI hits from Grace Barnes, Sammy Diaz, and Brylee Klosterman.

In the second game, Vasquez was back on the mound and put together another quality start, going five innings and working around some traffic on the bases to allow just one run. She also racked up her 100th strikeout of the season. Tory Bennett was a standout at the plate, going 3-4, while Nia Carter drove in two more runs to power the team to the win.

Carter's weekend tear (.667, seven RBIs, three runs scored) earned her Big Ten Player of the Week honors. Carter currently leads the conference in batting average (.468), is second in the country in hits (65), and has also surpassed 200 hits in her career.

The theme of the entire season for the Hawks has been improvement. For much of last year, the Hawks were close but couldn't seem to consistently get over the hump, but the Hawks have proven they can win in multiple ways this year. Carter's been a good hitter for a few years now, but she has really elevated her game this year to become one of the best hitters in the conference. Combine that with a solid 1-2 punch on the mound in Vasquez and Adams (who has been a revelation as a freshman) and the foundation is there for a competitive group.

Head coach Renee Gillispie and the players have put in the work to develop and improve and now they're starting to reap those rewards. Multiple players have stated the goal for the season is to make the conference tournament. Coming into the season, that goal have may have been overly ambitious, but now it looks very attainable.

Iowa track and field competed in the Fighting Illini Challenge last weekend and came away with six event wins. Audrey Biermann had herself a huge day, winning the Women's 400m race, as well as the 4x100 with Julia Pattison, Brynley McDermott, and Alexandria Edison, and the Women's 4x400m with Jaiden Itson, Nylah Perry, and Aliyanna Dorn.

The Hawks also racked up wins in the Men's 100m (Damoy Allen), women's 100m Hurdles (Myreanna Bebe), and Men's 400m Hurdles (Phillip Jefferson). The wind kept any of the times from qualifying as top-10 all-time but it was another strong performance regardless

The Hawkeyes again came away with wins in multiple events and from both established stars and newcomers. Biermann is only a freshman and there's no overstating what a career day like this can mean for a young athlete's confidence. The Hawks, now ranked #10, will be split again next week, sending athletes to California, Florida, and Des Moines.

It was another tough week for the Iowa baseball team, who dropped two of three to Indiana. The Hawks won the first game of the series convincingly, 7-1, on the back of another great start from Brody Brecht. You can read a full recap of his start here, but it was one of his best outings of the year, going seven innings while allowing just two hits. A consistent effort at the plate, with Raider Tello, Brayden Frazier, and Kyle Huckstorf each notching two RBIs, made for a comfortable win to start the series.

Unfortunately, the momentum didn't carry through to games two and three. Game Two was an absolute pitcher's duel with neither team managing to score a run in the first nine innings. The Hawkeye tandem of Marcus Morgan and Zach Voelker held Indiana to one hit in the first nine innings, but the Hoosier pitchers kept the Hawks off the board.

Indiana threatened in the ninth, but a timely double play (and a kind call from the umpire) got the Hawks out of a jam. The Hawks threatened in the top of the 10th but had a runner thrown out at the plate and Indiana came back in the bottom of the inning with a walk-off home run off the left field foul pole to steal a 2-0 win.

Sunday's rubber match was another low-scoring game, with Indiana coming out on top, 4-2. The Hawks scored in the top of the first inning and held the 1-0 lead into the 7th when Indiana was able to plate a tying run. Iowa regained the lead with a run in the 8th, but Indiana answered with three of their own to take a 4-2 lead.

Keaton Anthony had a strong day at the plate, notching three hits, two of which were doubles, and Ty Lagenberg pitched 5 1/3 shutout innings. Indiana had traffic on the bases all day, but Iowa used four double plays to avoid any major damage.

The pitching staff will be pleased with 95% of what they did over the weekend, but the late-inning losses always hurt the most. The Hawks continue to look like a team that can make some noise in the Big Ten Tournament and push for NCAA Tournament consideration, but the tight losses this weekend will shrink their margin for error. They'll look to rebound next week with a midweek game against Wisconsin-Milwaukee before traveling to Minneapolis to take on Minnesota.

Iowa rowing competed in the Big Ten Invitational last weekend. On day one, the Hawkeyes led the Big Ten in top placements with three, including wins in the morning's Varsity Eight, Varsity Four, and 3rd Varsity Four races. The Hawks earned two more wins on day two, finishing first in the Varsity Eight and Varsity Four races. The Hawkeyes' seven 1st or 2nd places finishes were tops in the Big Ten at the event. Iowa will next compete on April 15th against Kansas.

Hawkeye tennis split two matches over the weekend, topping Penn State 4-3 before falling 0-4 to #8 Ohio State. Iowa earned the doubles point to start the match against the Nittany Lions and followed that up with wins on courts two (Marisa Schmidt), three (Daianne Hayashida), and four (Vipasha Mehra). The Hawks' final two home matches of the season are next week against Rutgers and Maryland.