No. 1 Nebraska Defeats Iowa State

LINCOLN, Neb. ? Top-ranked Nebraska got 15 kills from Sarah Pavan and out blocked the Cyclones, 13 to five, as Iowa State fell to the Huskers, 3-0 (29-31, 20-30, 17-30), on Wednesday night at Nebraska Coliseum.

With the win, Nebraska improves to 10-0 overall and 3-0 in Big 12 play while Iowa State falls to 9-3 overall and 1-1 in conference action.

“I thought we played really well the first game,” said Iowa State head coach Christy Johnson. “Defensively we were playing really well, we came in thinking that if we did what we needed to we'd have a shot. At the end of the game we forgot some assignments and that hurt us. As a team we need to be able to put strong teams away when we have a big lead.”

The Cyclones got a team-high 12 kills from Katie Jessen while freshman setter Kaylee Manns chipped in 36 assists and a team-high 15 digs.

Nebraska, who out hit the Cyclones .250 to .083, was blocked just once by ISU in the final two games.

The Cyclones came out strong in the first game, going up 19-14 before the Huskers scored seven straight to go on top 21-19. The Cyclones came back to take a 28-27 lead on a kill by Lauren Cummings but the Huskers were able to get a kill from All-American Sarah Pavan and a block by Tracy Stalls to regain the lead at 29-28. After the Cyclones tied it up at 29-29, Nebraska scored two straight to take the game 31-29.

The Cyclones and Huskers had four blocks each in game one but Pavan was the difference for Nebraska with six kills.

Nebraska took a 3-0 lead in the second game but ISU rallied behind two Jessen kills to knot it up at 3-3. The Huskers responded, scoring the next three points and running their lead to 21-13 and forcing Iowa State to use its final timeout. The Cyclones scored three straight out of the timeout, but again Pavan halted the threat with a kill.

Nebraska, who was led by eight second game kills by Pavan, extended its lead in the match to 2-0 on another kill by Pavan that gave them the game two win, 30-20. Nicole Lorenzen had four kills for ISU in the second game.

The Huskers led 11-9 in game three before scoring four straight to push their lead to 15-9. Nebraska never let up, taking the third game 30-17.

The Cyclones will be back in action Saturday when they host Oklahoma (9-3) at Hilton Coliseum. First serve is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Lauren Cummings

Katie Jessen

Katie Jessen

Nicole Lorenzen

Nicole Lorenzen

Kaylee Manns

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Iowa State University Athletics