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Another week is in the books for the Iowa State volleyball team! We had another busy week with the Big 12 schedule well underway. On Tuesday night after practice we hopped back on our charter plane for another trip to Texas. This time our opponent was the Longhorns, who were ranked No. 7 in the nation. We lost the match in three games, but came close the last couple games, with the third game being 30-28. We had a tough time getting started and we can't afford that against a good team like Texas. Once we finally got things going, the match was over.
With a couple more practices on Thursday and Friday, it was time for another match on Saturday. The day started off with a kid's clinic in the morning from 11-noon. We had a great turnout of about 150 kids. That is the most we have ever had at the clinics, which we hold twice a season. It was a lot of fun! After a pretty long autograph session following the clinic we were off to Hilton to watch film and have our pre-game practice.
Before the match started, we had a brief ceremony to unveil the NCAA Second Round banner from the rafters of Hilton Coliseum. It was definitely time for a new one of those banners to be hung; the other NCAA volleyball banner from 1995 was getting a little faded. Now it was game time and we were ready to play the Missouri Tigers. We had another awesome crowd at this match of over 1,300 people! We love the support! It was a great match, but definitely a long one! We ended up winning in 5 games, with the last game being 16-14. We led the whole fifth game but let them catch up to us in the end. Not a good idea. This is the first time we have beat Missouri in Hilton since 1996! This win was well overdue! This match also marked the first time in school history that the Cyclones have been 3-1 to start the Big 12 season.
If you were at the match on Saturday night you probably would have noticed that I moved back to the middle blocker position. On Thursday before practice, Christy told me that they wanted to try me back at the middle again. So I practiced Thursday, and Friday and played in the middle on the match Saturday. A couple practices to get used to it again. It actually went pretty well considering I haven't played middle in a while. My blocking wasn't the best but hopefully that will get better in the weeks to come!
We have a bye this upcoming Wednesday night, so we have a full week of practice before we head to Lubbock to play Texas Tech on Saturday. It should be another great match!
Go State!
Erin Boeve
