AMES, Iowa ? Katie Churm had 18 digs and Katie Jessen posted a team-high 13 kills but Iowa State fell to No. 17 Missouri on Saturday afternoon at Hilton Coliseum.
Iowa State hit .156 and out dug the Tigers, 54-52, in the loss. The Cyclones are 11-6 overall and 3-4 in the Big 12. Missouri hit just .204 but out blocked Iowa State, 15.5 to 11, and got a match-high 15 kills from Julianna Klein to improve to 13-4 overall and 7-1 in Big 12 play.
The Cyclones' outside hitters accounted for 29 of the team's 45 kills, In addition to Jessen, who sits just 14 kills shy of becoming the sixth Iowa State player to register 1,000 career kills, Nicole Lorenzen and Lauren Cummings chipped in eight kills each.
“I thought our outsides took some good swings today,” said Iowa State head coach Christy Johnson. “Lauren Cummings took some nice swings for us. We still have things to work on but I felt like we played better than we did Tuesday night (against Texas).”
In game one, a kill by Cummings' staked Iowa State to an 18-16 lead. The Cyclones were unable to hold onto their lead as Missouri scored the next four points to go on top 20-18. Cummings ended the Cyclone skid with another kill but Missouri responded again, rattling off four straight to extend its lead. Iowa State closed the gap to one at 25-24 following a Missouri error, but the Tigers put the game away with a 5-2 run. Julianna Klein's sixth kill of the first game gave the Tigers the 30-26 win.
Game two was an epic battle, featuring six tie scores and four lead changes before Missouri captured the game, 34-32.
Missouri bolted out to a quick 3-0 lead and extended the lead to seven at 15-8 on a kill from Amanda Hantouli. The Tigers led 24-18 before Iowa State four straight points to get within two at 24-22. ISU eventually earned its first tie at 26-26 on a kill from Jessen and pushed its lead to 28-26. Missouri fired back, scoring the next three points. Iowa State staved off three game points before the Tigers took the game on a service ace by Nicole Wilson.
The Cyclones held a brief lead in the third game before Missouri got hot, hitting .316 en route to a 30-22 win.
After ISU went on top 6-5 on a Jessen kill, Missouri scored five of the next six points to take control of the game. The Tigers never looked back, pushing their lead to 10 at 28-18 before ISU closed the gap to 29-22. A service error by Iowa State ended the match.
Lorenzen had seven digs in the match, going over 700 in her career. Erin Boeve had eight kills, a solo block and five block assists in the match.
Iowa State resumes play Wednesday as they travel to Colorado for an 8 p.m. contest with the Buffaloes. Live stats will be available at Cyclones.com.
