ISU Opens 2016 With Sweep of Wichita State

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State opened the 2016 volleyball season with a convincing performance, sweeping Wichita State 3-0 (25-16, 25-21, 25-20) Friday evening at Hilton Coliseum. ISU begins the season with a 1-0 record, while the Shockers begin the campaign 0-1.

Ciara Capezio led the ISU attack, which hit .323 as a team, with 12 kills, while Morgan Kuhrt posted nine and Jess Schaben and Samara West had eight each. In her first match as Cyclone libero, Branen Berta led the Iowa State effort with 17 digs.

Iowa State Big Out of the Gate
The slow starts that hampered Iowa State many times throughout the 2015 season was not present in the first frame, as the Cyclones stormed ahead to a 12-5 advantage. Iowa State was able to maintain its big advantage throughout the set via the defensive side of the ball, restricting the Shockers to a .065 hitting percentage for the frame. Ciara Capezio came out of the gates flying with four first set kills. Alexis Conaway capped the set with an ace to give ISU the win at 25-21.

Shockers Bounce Back, But ISU Prevails
Once again Iowa State took control from the start, running the first three points off the board. However, the Cyclones were their own worst enemy, as a 5-0 WSU run was powered by four Cyclone errors that allowed the Shockers to get a lead at 13-12. Head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch called a timeout to calm her team down, and it was exactly what ISU needed. The Cyclones got ahead for good at 15-14 on a Gabi Mostrom error and rode another strong effort by Capezio to the second set win, 25-21.

ISU Comes Back for A Sweep
The first half of the third played out just like the first half of the second, an early ISU advantage was cut out by a Wichita State run. This time the Shockers got their own, as a 4-0 run featured four WSU kills and gave the visitors a 16-14 edge. The Cyclones turned to their top two attackers from 2015: Capezio and Jess Schaben to get ISU over the top as the duo helped power ISU back ahead for good 21-20. Schaben capped the night with a big kill out of the back row to give the Cyclones the set 25-20, and the match 3-0.

Game Notes
*Iowa State is now 9-3 in season openers under head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch. The Cyclones have now won their season opener the past two seasons.
*ISU now leads the all-time series against Wichita State 7-0-1. Tonight was the first meeting between the two teams since 2009.
*Ciara Capezio finished with 12 kills, her 41st career match in double figures. She is now on 797 career kills.
*Branen Berta, in her first start as ISU libero, led the Cyclones with 17 digs, her 10th career match with at least 10.
*Hali Hillegas made her Iowa State debut Friday night with her first career start.

Up Next
Iowa State is back in Hilton Coliseum Sunday afternoon to take on No. 18 Creighton. First serve will be at 2 p.m. The game can be watched live on Cyclones.TV Powered by Mediacom and the Cyclones.TV Web Player.

Next Event

Team Stats

Ciara Capezio

Morgan Kuhrt

Samara West

Jess Schaben

Players Mentioned

Branen Berta

Ciara Capezio

Alexis Conaway

Hali Hillegas

Morgan Kuhrt

Jess Schaben

Samara West

Players Mentioned

Branen Berta

Ciara Capezio

Alexis Conaway

Hali Hillegas

Morgan Kuhrt

Jess Schaben

Samara West

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics