Cyclones Drop 3-2 Heartbreaker to No. 3 Texas

Wednesday, November 21

Ames, Iowa

6:30 PM

Iowa State

Texas

Cyclones Drop 3-2 Heartbreaker to No. 3 Texas

11.21.2007 | Volleyball

By: cyclones.com

AMES, Iowa- Iowa State dropped a 3-2 (19-30, 24-30, 30-24, 34-32, 16-18) heartbreaker to No. 3 Texas on Wednesday evening at Hilton Coliseum. The Cyclones (16-13, 10-9 Big 12) trailed 2-0 but used a scrappy defense and fought back to force a fifth game before falling 18-16 in the fifth.

“Tonight we showed great spirit and fire against one of the nation's best teams after dropping the first two games,” said Iowa State head coach Christy Johnson. “Most teams would give up but we stayed focused and fought through it. This team is playing some great volleyball and peaking at the right time. We showed today that we can compete with the best teams in the country.”

After struggling to get anything going in the first two games, Iowa State came out fired up and grabbed the next two to force a deciding fifth game. The Cyclones continued to roll and took a promising 14-9 lead in the fifth but Texas didn't quit, fighting off seven match points for the Cyclones before taking the 18-16 win in the fifth.

Texas was hitting .325 through two games while holding Iowa State to just a .098 hitting percentage. The Cyclone block came alive in the third game as ISU had six blocks to bring the Longhorn's percentage down to .143 in the game.

A kill by Jen Malcom midway through the fourth made it 18-13 Iowa State but UT fought back to tie it at 28-28 on a Juliann Faucette kill. The teams battled back-and-forth with Texas grabbing a 32-31 lead before ISU scored three straight on two kills by Lauren Cummings and another by Mary Bisenius to send it to the fifth.

The Cyclones would hit just .125 in the fifth game but their scrappy defense propelled them to the big lead before Texas got on a roll and tied it up. With the score 15-14 Iowa State, Texas setter Michelle Moriarty went to the heralded freshman Faucette who hammered home a kill to tie it up. Victoria Henson then notched a kill to give ISU another match point but Destinee Hooker answered to tie it again at 16. Back-to-back attack errors by Iowa State gave Texas the win.

Henson led five Cyclones in double-figures with a career-high 20 kills while Ashley Mass had 19 digs for ISU. Joining Henson in double-digits was Erin Boeve (16), Malcom (15), Cummings (14) and Bisenius (10). Boeve and Amy Vos also had 16 digs while Kaylee Manns added 61 assists and 11 digs.

Texas (23-3, 18-1) was led by 20 kills from Hooker and 26 digs from Alyson Jennings. Ashley Engle chipped in 18 kills and Faucette and Lauren Paolini added 16 each as Texas won its 19th straight.

The Cyclones will be back in action Saturday as they host No. 21 Oklahoma at 6:30 p.m. in the regular season finale for both teams.