Iowa State Volleyball Defeats Oklahoma to Snap Conference Losing Streak

Wednesday, October 17

Ames, Iowa

TBA

Iowa State

Oklahoma

Iowa State Volleyball Defeats Oklahoma to Snap Conference Losing Streak

10.17.2001 | Volleyball

By: Iowa State University

AMES, Iowa - The Iowa State volleyball team defeated Big 12 foe Oklahoma, 3-1 Wednesday night in Hilton Coliseum. The victory snapped a 30-match conference losing streak for ISU and improved its overall record to 4-11 and to 1-9 in Big 12 action. True freshman, Brittany Dalager led the Cyclones, pounding 16 kills and collecting a career-high 32 digs to notch her sixth double-double of the year. With the loss Oklahoma falls to 2-16 on the year and to 1-7 in league play.

Both squad were balanced offensively as OU recorded just one more kill than the Cyclones (59-58). Defensively, ISU held an advantage, outdigging (113-97) and outblocking (15-6) Oklahoma. Julie Mitchell, Dalager and Mandi Harms had a big hand in limiting the Sooners to a .099 hitting percentage on the night. Mitchell registered a season-high eight block assists, while Harms and Dalager each tallied four block assists on the night.

"I am very happy with the outcome tonight," head coach Linda Crum said. "We played very well at times, but we still had lapses of poor decision making which we will continue to work on for the second half of this Big 12 season. I am proud of the way they fought through the adversity they face in several of the games tonight and were able to hang on and win the close games."

ISU came out ready to go in game one and jumped out to a 8-3 lead. OU regained its composer and fought back to cut ISU's advantage to 9-8. The Cyclones then outscored OU 6-2 and held its largest lead of the match at 15-10. Once again the Sooners came back and eventually took their first lead of the match at 21-20. The two squads would continue to battle as neither team built more than a three point margin. Mitchell and setter Sara Stribe blocked a Sooner attack, which gave ISU a critical point and a three-point lead. Iowa State would maintain its three point advantage to hang on and win game one, 30-27. Renae Pruess and Mitchell powered the Cyclone offense in that opening stanza, as both collect four kills.

Game two picked up right where game one left off as ISU once again took and early advantage (7-2) only to see OU fight back to take the lead (13-10). The teams would continue its seesaw battle throughout the set, until Stribe regained control of the match for ISU at 26-23 with her second ace of the game. The Sooners wouldn't go quietly though as they scored seven of the next 11 points and put ISU's back to the wall when they served for the game at 30-29. The Cyclones stood strong a tied the match for the fifth time and then secured the match tallying back-to-back points to win the set, 32-30. This time its was Dalager leading the Cyclones, as she drilled six of her final 16 kills in that game.

After the break it would be Oklahoma that came out ready to play. ISU did take an early lead at 6-3, but OU quickly knotted the match, 9-9. Oklahoma then took a 10-9 advantage and never relinquished it. ISU didn't go easily though, but OU slowly increased its lead and eventually secured game three, 30-22. OU's Logan Pierce notched six of her match high 19 kills in that set and committed just one hitting error on 13 attacks.

The Cyclones regained their confidence at the start of game four, jumping out to a 8-3 advantage. Unlike in the opening two game this time ISU would not let the Sooners back into the match. Iowa State was able to push its lead to a 24-18 advantage, it biggest of the game, but OU cut the lead down to three at 25-22. ISU then scored five of the final eight points to secure game four, 30-25. Mitchell pounded six kills in the final set and finished the night with a career-high 14 kills.

ISU hits the road this weekend for a Saturday matchup with the Longhorns in Austin, Texas. The match was originally slated to begin at 7 p.m., but first serve will now be at 11 a.m. in order to accommodate the Texas-Colorado football game.