Cyclones Drop Opener To Middle Tennessee

AMES, Iowa ? Middle Tennessee had 56 digs and held Iowa State to a .049 hitting percentage to down the Cyclones, 3-1 (21-30, 30-26, 20-30, 28-30), on Sunday evening at Hilton Coliseum in the season opener for Iowa State.

“I thought that we had some chances to turn the match around but we just didn't get it done tonight,” said ISU head coach Christy Johnson. “They are a good team, they play hard and at a fast pace and it took us awhile to catch onto it."

The Blue Raiders (4-0) used 19 kills from Ashley Mead, 17 kills and 14 digs from Ashley Adams to defeat the Cyclones (0-1) despite being out blocked 20 to 14.5.

Iowa State was paced by Victoria Henson's 10 kills and Jen Malcom's 10 block assists. Malcom's fellow middle blocker Diane Kieger added nine block assists in the loss. Freshman setter Cassie Pratt had 34 assists in her Cyclone debut.

The Cyclones came out flat in game one and fell behind 11-2 following an Adams kill. A block by Malcom and Erin Boeve closed the gap to five at 25-20 but it was too late as the Blue Raiders scored five of the next six points to take the important first game, 30-21.

Iowa State bounced back in the second game, grabbing a 30-26 win and knotting the match up at one game apiece. The Cyclones fell behind again in game two, but rallied for seven straight points after trailing 21-17. Pratt had a kill to start the rally and then dished out assists to Boeve and Kieger to highlight the comeback.

“We started to get on a roll in game two and had some tough serving that took them out of their fast offense a little bit,” said Johnson. “We had some nice touches that really helped our defense settle in.”

Middle Tennessee came out of the intermission and rolled to a 30-20 win in the third game to regain control of the match before taking the fourth game 30-28. The Blue Raiders held ISU to a -.029 hitting percentage in the third game and -.027 in the fourth to take the win.

The Cyclones will be back in action on Tuesday evening as they play host to Creighton at 6:30 p.m. at Hilton Coliseum.

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Players Mentioned

Erin Boeve

Erin Boeve

Victoria Henson

Victoria Henson

Diane Kieger

Diane Kieger

Jen Malcom

Jen Malcom

Cassie Pratt

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