Volleyball Win Over Aggies First Since '89

Wednesday, October 18

Ames, Iowa

6:30 PM

Iowa State

Texas A&M

Volleyball Win Over Aggies First Since '89

10.18.2006 | Volleyball

By: Iowa State University

AMES, Iowa ? Katie Jessen had a match-high 22 kills and a career-high 17 digs as Iowa State defeated Texas A&M, 3-1 (30-25, 30-20, 28-30, 30-25), for the first time since 1989.

With the win, Iowa State improves to 13-7 overall and finishes the first half of the Big 12 season with a 5-5 record. Texas A&M drops to 9-9 overall and 2-8 in conference play.

The win was also Iowa State's first-ever at home against Texas A&M and first since 1989, a streak spanning 21 matches.

“It's a really good win for our team, especially in terms of keeping our hopes alive for the tournament,” said Iowa State head coach Christy Johnson. “We are about where we thought we would be half way through the Big 12. We would have liked to have had a couple more wins but I think we're in a really good position heading into the second half.”

Jessen was a force for Iowa State from the first game, posting 22 kills and moving into fifth place all-time with 1,039 career kills. In addition to her career-high 17 digs, the senior had a pair of block assists and hit .228 on the night. While Jessen starred in the match, the Cyclones used an all-around team effort, hitting .301 and posting 13 blocks and 81 digs, to defeat the Aggies. Three other players had double-figure kills and digs. Nicole Lorenzen had a season-high 17 kills and hit .349 to go along with 15 digs. Lauren Cummings continued her solid hitting, ripping 15 kills at a .467 clip. Cummings is now hitting .355 on the season. Erin Boeve was once again a force for ISU as well, adding 12 kills.

Defensively, Katie Churm and Kaylee Manns also had 17 digs. Manns, a freshman, was brilliant in leading the Cyclone attack with 62 assists, her second straight match with over 60. Boeve led the way at the net with seven blocks while Jessica Klein chipped in five block assists.

Iowa State came out blazing in game one, hitting .341 and getting five kills each from Jessen and Lorenzen en route to a 30-25 win. The key moment of the game came with the Aggies leading 11-9. Christi Hahn hit an attack long opening up a 6-0 run for ISU and ISU took advantage to go up 1-0.

The Cyclones never trailed in game two as they cruised to a 30-20 and went up 2-0 in the match. Jessen had seven second game kills and ISU again topped .300 with a .326 hitting percentage. The Cyclones had 20 digs to hold A&M to a .045 hitting percentage.

Texas A&M bounced back in game three to force a fourth game. The Aggies and Cyclones both hit .200 but Texas A&M used back-to-back kills from Hahn, a preseason all-Big 12 selection, to take the game 30-28 after ISU stormed back from eight down to tie it at 28-28.

Iowa State took the lead at 10-9 in game four and never looked back as it went on to win 30-25. The Cyclones hit .366 in game three while holding A&M to .244.

Texas A&M was led by Mary Batis' 16 kills. Zanny Castillo had 21 digs in the loss for the Aggies.

Iowa State travels to Baylor (13-9, 2-8 Big 12) Saturday for a 7 p.m. match. Live stats will be available at Cyclones.com.