After three plane flights, two losses and one frustrating weekend, the Northwestern volleyball team returned to Evanston in worse shape than when it left.

Losses to Iowa (3-14, 1-8 Big Ten) and No. 21 Minnesota (11-7, 5-5) this weekend moved the Wildcats into the bottom half of the Big Ten standings and dropped their record below .500.

Iowa, which should have been an easy warmup before a challenging match against Minnesota, defeated the Cats in four games (30-22, 30-21, 27-30, 30-23) on Friday night in Iowa City, Iowa.

“We definitely expected to win,” said junior right side hitter Kelli Meyer, who had 11 kills in the match. “I’m not sure if we necessarily took them lightly, but we thought we would come out with a win.”

Instead, the Cats went into the match lacking intensity while Iowa’s star outside hitter, Sara Meyermann, was raring to go. Meyermann, who leads the Big Ten in kills, had 34 kills and six service aces in the match.

“We’re the best blocking team in the conference and we couldn’t stop her,” Chan said. “She played like an All-American.”

Furthermore, the Cats were unable to find a combination on the court that worked for them.

“We scrambled to find a lineup,” coach Keylor Chan said. “We ended up yanking starters.”

Both of the Cats’ starting outside hitters, junior Molly Kamp and redshirt-freshman Jill Buschur, were pulled from the match after repeatedly making routine errors and missing kill opportunities.

Kamp, the team captain, is usually NU’s most consistent player, and Buschur’s powerful hitting has been a spark for the Cats all year.

“Jill just had a bad game,” Chan said. “She’s a great athlete, but she really struggled this weekend. She showed her youth.”

The lineup changes gave redshirt-freshman Leah Delcourt an opportunity to play in the front row. Sophomores Brandy Stohl and Erica Knavel saw court time in the back row.

Junior Cassie McKnight, normally a starting defensive specialist who also leads the team in service aces, played in the front row as well.

Despite the loss, the Cats put up decent numbers — they outblocked the Hawkeyes 11-10 and middle blocker Erika Lange had 12 kills and six blocks.

Freshman setter Drew Robertson put up a a double-double with 46 assists and 11 digs.

Chan said the substitutes played well, and the Cats won the third game, but the position switches were obviously not enough to pull out a victory.

After watching film on Friday night to prepare, the Cats hopped on a plane to Minnesota to face the Golden Gophers, who had lost the night before to No. 6 Wisconsin in three straight games.

For the second night in a row, the Cats came out flat and were unable to make the starting lineup work. Minnesota swept the match in three quick games, none of them close (30-15, 30-13, 30-21).

“Minnesota played the best they’ve played all year,” Chan said. “They just outperformed us.”

The key problem for NU on Saturday was its youth. Kamp bounced back, but the youngsters, Buschur and Robertson, “played like freshmen,” according to Chan. Both left the game.

Meyer moved to her old setter position when Robertson was benched, a move that also allowed both Stohl and junior Adrianna Ruhl into the lineup.

The switch failed to spark the Cats, who blocked only five balls in the entire match against the Gophers’ outstanding middle blockers, Stephanie Hagen and Bethany Brafford.

“We were touching a lot of balls,” Meyer said. “We set a good block, but they have two great hitters that can hit around it.”

The rough weekend took the Cats out of a tie for sixth place in the Big Ten, making their upcoming road games against No. 11 Penn State and No. 10 Ohio State crucial in their pursuit of an NCAA tournament bid.

“I think most of us know that with these losses, we need wins,” Meyer said. “You need twice as much energy on the road, and we just didn’t have it this weekend.”