Cyclone Volleyball Closes Home Season with a Win Against Oklahoma, 3-2

Wednesday, November 26

Ames, Iowa

TBA

Iowa State

Oklahoma

Cyclone Volleyball Closes Home Season with a Win Against Oklahoma, 3-2

11.26.2003 | Volleyball

By: Iowa State University

AMES, Iowa ? Renae Pruess had a career-high 14 digs along with 17 kills and four other Cyclones tallied career highs to help Iowa State defeat Oklahoma, 3-2, Wednesday night at Hilton Coliseum. The win, which snaps a five-match losing streak for the Cyclones, was the second consecutive win over Oklahoma this season. With the win, Iowa State improves to 12-19 on the season and 4-15 in Big 12 play. Christina Maynes led Oklahoma with 26 kills as Oklahoma falls to 11-20 overall and 3-16 in league play.

ISU's win over Oklahoma marks the second home Big 12 win since ISU defeated Texas, 31, earlier this season. It was also the first time ISU has won four Big 12 matched in a season since 1996 and has had more than 10 wins in a season since the 1995 squad went 22-12. It was also the first time Iowa State swept the season series from a Big 12 opponent since 1995.

The Cyclones played a solid match against Oklahoma, hitting .145 compared to Oklahoma's .085 hitting percentage from the floor. The Cyclones outkilled the Sooners, 62-60 and outdug OU, 90-84. The Cyclones had a stellar night blocking, with a season-high 32 blocks, compared to 18 from Oklahoma,

“I am really proud of the kids today,” head coach Linda Crum said. “They really rook advantage of the opportunities they had to win and that was huge for them. We were really more consistent today. They started to see where the match could go wither way and decided themselves that they wanted to win and really played great.”

Junior Brittany Dalager played solidly in the setter position with a career high 45 assists and added five kills and eight digs. Junior Ashlie McWee had a career-high 11 block assists, along with five kills and four digs. Freshman Katie Jessen had a career night all they way arounf with career highs in kills (15) and digs (16). Freshman Nicole Lorenzen added a career-high 12 kills.

The two teams played pretty evenly in hame one with Oklahoma having the edge on kills with 18 compared to ISU's nine. The Sooners hit .075 from the floor, while holding ISU to .000 and defeated ISU, 30-28.

The Cyclones responded well in game two, pounding 15 kills and hitting .270 from the floor. The Sooners were held to .024 hitting and 12 kills. ISU served solidly to win game two, 30-23. The teo teams took a 1-1 tie into the locker room.

The Cyclones struggled a little in game three. They hit 11 kills while Oklahoma had 13 kills and hit a slightly better .078 from the floor while ISU hit .020 from the floor as ISU dropped game three, 30-26.

Iowa State came out ready to play in game four, hitting a solid .239 from the floor along with a match-high 19 kills. Oklahoma was held to 11 kills and hit .140 from the floor as ISU took game four, 30-21, to force a game five.

It was all Iowa State in game five as the Cyclones had eight kills and only two hitting errors, while holding OU to six kills. The Cyclones hit a match-high .300 from the floor to win game five, 15-9, and the match, 3-2.

“The win was huge for us,” Crum said. “This was important for us in terms of the goals we set. We set a goal to defeat Oklahoma twice and we did it. Dana (Koziol) had some great digs for us in key places and Katie (Churm) did a nice job of sparking things for us. Brittany (Dalager) was huge for us. For her to come in to a new position and play as well as she did was terrific. I am just really proud of the kids tonight. It's a big step in this program.”

Iowa State closes out the 2003 season when it travels to College Station, Texas, to take on No. 24 Texas A&M on Saturday, Nov. 29, starting at 7 p.m.