Iowa State Sweeps Baylor, 3-0

WACO, Texas ? Iowa State used 18 kills from Katie Jessen and hit .353 as a team to defeat Baylor, 3-0 (30-28, 30-15, 32-30), on Saturday night at the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas.

With the win, ISU improves to 14-7 overall and 6-5 in Big 12 play. Baylor falls to 13-10 overall and 2-9 in conference play.

Jessica Klein led a precise hitting attack for ISU, hitting at a .667 clip with 12 kills and no errors on 18 attempts. Her .667 hitting percentage is the seventh best effort in school history.

“I thought Jesse (Klein) had one of the best offense matches that I have ever seen from her,” said Iowa State head coach Christy Johnson. “Defensively, I felt like we scrambled to bring up some tough balls. It was good to see us win two close games tonight. I felt like we stayed aggressive, which is something we have been trying to do.”

Joining Jessen and Klein in double-figures were Erin Boeve (11 kills) and Nicole Lorenzen (12 kills). Freshman Kaylee Manns had 48 assists and led ISU with 14 digs. Jessen finished with her 10^th double-double of the season, adding 12 digs in the win.

As a team, ISU out dug Baylor, 63 to 45, but was out blocked, nine to six, for just the fifth time this season.

In the first game, both teams came out on fire, with ISU out hitting Baylor, .439 to .395, en route to a hard fought 30-28 win. The Cyclones had 22 kills to Baylor's 21, led by Boeve, Klein and Jessen, each of which had five.

The Bears led 13-12 before ISU rattled off four straight to briefly regain control of the game, 16-13. Baylor bounced back to take the lead 20-19 but back-to-back kills by Jessen and Boeve gave the lead back to ISU at 21-20. The Cyclones scored four of the next five points and went on to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

Iowa State again topped the .300 hitting efficiency mark in the second game, with 16 kills and just three errors on 34 attempts for a .382 hitting percentage.

The Cyclones took a 10-4 lead in the game and cruised to a 30-15 win behind six game two kills from Jessen. ISU turned up the defense, holding Baylor to a .026 hitting percentage.

The Cyclones fell behind 21-19 in the third game but rallied to score three of the next four, tying the match on a perfect deep attack by Boeve. Baylor scored the next two points but ISU again responded with a run of its own. The Cyclones got kills from Jessen and Lorenzen to take a 25-24 lead. The teams traded points back-and-forth before a Boeve kill gave ISU the 32-30 win and 3-0 sweep of Baylor.

Iowa State will host Kansas State Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at Hilton Coliseum.

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Players Mentioned

Erin Boeve

Erin Boeve

Katie Jessen

Katie Jessen

Jessica Klein

Jessica Klein

Nicole Lorenzen

Nicole Lorenzen

Kaylee Manns

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