Balanced Attack Leads ISU To 3-0 Win In Opener

Friday, August 28

Ames, Iowa

6:30 PM

Iowa State

UW-Milwaukee

Balanced Attack Leads ISU To 3-0 Win In Opener

08.28.2009 | Volleyball

By: cyclones.com

AMES, Iowa ? 13th-ranked Iowa State had five players with seven or more kills, including Kelsey Petersen who finished with 10, to sweep UW-Milwaukee, 3-0 (25-13, 25-20, 26-24), in the season opener for both schools at Hilton Coliseum.

"We started out pretty well but we sort of faded as we went,” Iowa State head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch said. “It got a little sloppy as it got towards the end of the match. We'll want to start how we started tonight tomorrow afternoon, but then maintain that. When we subbed in a few people, I think we didn't play as focused and didn't carry out the game plan."

Victoria Henson and Jamie Straube, who made her first career start, finished with nine kills each while Rachel Hockaday and Debbie Stadick finished with eight and seven, respectively, for the Cyclones (1-0).

Defensively, ISU held Milwaukee (0-1) to a .102 hitting percentage, led by a career-high 16 digs from Henson. Ashley Mass also had 16 digs and Kaylee Manns added her 51st career double-double with 40 assists and 10 digs.

Johnson-Lynch praised Henson's all-around performance following the match.

"Since she's come into our program, our goal was to make her an all-around player,” Johnson-Lynch said. “Her first two years, she was definitely was a front row player only. It is pretty exciting to see her passing and playing defense. We've been working hard with her. She used her athleticism to make exception defensive plays, but we want her to make the easier plays and make sure the passes land perfectly. She picked up a lot of free balls, down balls and put them right on target. I think she's really starting to develop into a nice, all-around player."

In the opening set, ISU blistered the ball at a .351 clip to take the 25-13 win. Leading 11-9, the Cyclones went on an 11-1 run, which was keyed by four Hockaday kills.

The Cyclones went into the break with a 2-0 lead following a 25-20 win in the second set. Iowa State was holding onto a 16-15 lead following a kill from UWM's Melissa Jansen, before scoring three-straight points to go up 19-15. The Cyclones took the set on an ace by Straube.

Iowa State took a 9-2 lead and extended it to 20-10 in the third set but the Panthers scrapped back to tie it at 23 all on another kill from Jansen, who led UWM with 10 on the night. After Jansen slammed another kill to tie it at 24, Stadick notched a kill to give ISU its second match point. Jena Berg's attack went into the net for UWM, giving ISU its first victory of the season.

The match was played in front of 1,189 fans, including the newly created student group, the CYd-Out Crew. Johnson-Lynch was impressed with the turnout and the impact they had on the match.

"It was really cool and neat to see,” Johnson-Lynch said. “A lot of programs don't have a student section, that's always been a struggle for volleyball programs. There they were in the same shirts on the sidelines, heckling the other side. It was pretty cool for our program."

The Cyclones and Panthers will play against Saturday at 3 p.m. The match will be carried on cyclones.com via the Clone Zone.