IOWA CITY, Iowa – University of Iowa student-athletes Bailey Ortega (volleyball) and Tory Taylor (football) were named October’s Student-Athletes of the Month, the Iowa Student-Athlete Advisory Committee announced.
Ortega, a senior from Davenport, Iowa, reached 2,000-career assists on Oct. 20 at Penn State. She is the 10th Hawkeye in program history to achieve the milestone. Heading into November, Ortega has 2,062 assists – 97 away from moving to ninth all-time at Iowa. The senior setter led the team with 168 assists in October.
The Hawkeyes head east for a match at Michigan on Friday at 5:30 p.m. (CT) before a contest at Michigan State on Saturday at 6 p.m. Both matches will be streamed on B1G+ (subscription required).
Taylor, a senior punter from Melbourne, Australia, averaged 48.9 yards on 24 punts in October. Ten punts traveled 50+ yards, including a 62-yarder at Wisconsin to tie a season high. 11 of Taylor’s punts were downed inside the 20-yard line. He was named to six midseason first-team All-America teams (Associated Press, ESPN, FOX, The Athletic, Sporting News, CBS). Taylor ranks first in the country in total punts and third in average yards per punt.
Iowa will travel to Chicago on Saturday to face Northwestern in the Wildcats Classic at Wrigley Field. The game will begin at 2:30 p.m. (CT) and will be streamed on Peacock (subscription required).