Cyclones Fall in Three to Oklahoma

AMES, Iowa - The Iowa State volleyball team, which has played five home matches in 18 days, failed to protect its home court and fell to Oklahoma in a three-game sweep. The Cyclones, now 8-12 and 1-10 in league play, showed moments of effective play, but were unable to sustain them and lost the match by game scores of 31-29, 30-25 and 33-31. Oklahoma moves to 10-9 overall and 2-9 in Big 12 play.

The Cyclones were plagued by poor passing and inconsistent serving in the match, which decreased efficiency on both sides of the net. ISU hit .129 in the match and held OU to a .185 percentage. The Sooners had five more kills on the night, four fewer serving errors and four more blocks, allowing them to escape with victories in three tight games.

"I'm just really disappointed in the way we came out and performed tonight," said ISU head coach Linda Crum. "We didn't come out ready to play, we were inconsistent and it showed."

Oklahoma jumped out early in game one, building a 13-9 advantage before a 5-1 ISU run knotted the score at 14. The Sooner blocking scheme was effective, however, and stuffed a number of Iowa State attacks at the net. Neither team established much of an offense, but OU was able to scratch out a victory behind five blocks and an efficient serving attack. The Cyclones committed three service errors to OU's one, providing the difference in the 31-29 decision.

Game two saw a number of breakdowns in ISU's passing game, negating chances to run an effective offense. The OU hitters warmed up and posted a .293 hitting percentage after ISU had held them to .082 in game one. Iowa State was hampered by ineffective first contacts and Sooner blocking, and hit only .089 in a 30-25 game two loss.

The Cyclones came out of the break with more energy, and more importantly, a much more effective passing attack and climbed ahead by as many as nine. Oklahoma called a timeout down 20-11 and roared back. The Sooners tied the score at 24 and made all the crucial plays to earn a 33-31 win and a match victory.

Erin Boeve was the star offensively again for ISU. The true freshman from Steen, Minn., posted her third consecutive match of 13 kills or more with 18, a team-high. She also posted a team-best in hitting percentage with .382, marking the third time in as many matches in which she has hit over .350. Boeve has 50 kills in her last three outings.

"Erin Boeve played another great match," said Crum. "I was really proud of the way she played tonight."

Nicole Lorenzen, a redshirt sophomore from Fremont, was the workhorse of the offensive attack. The outside hitter had a team-high 42 attempts, pounding 12 kills and adding 14 digs defensively. Lorenzen earned her eighth double-double of the season with her effort, second on the team in that category to Amanda Craig.

Craig, a junior setter, had 42 assists and two kills for the Cyclones, while chipping in six digs and a service ace. Katie Churm, the Big 12's fourth-leading player in digs, led ISU in that statistic for the 11th time this season with 18. Christine Smeele and Brittany Dalager were also in double-figures in digs, joining Churm and Lorenzen. The duo tallied 11 and 13 digs, respectively.

Iowa State hits the road for its next contest, as they will travel to Lawrence to face the Jayhawks on Wednesday, Oct. 27. The match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Erin Boeve

Erin Boeve

Katie Churm

Katie Churm

Amanda Craig

Amanda Craig

Brittany Dalager

Brittany Dalager

Nicole Lorenzen

Nicole Lorenzen

Nicole Lorenzen

Christine Smeele

Christine Smeele

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