Manns Breaks Career Assist Mark; No. 13 ISU Sweeps

Saturday, August 29

Ames, Iowa

3:00 PM

Iowa State

UW-Milwaukee

Manns Breaks Career Assist Mark; No. 13 ISU Sweeps

08.29.2009 | Volleyball

By: cyclones.com

AMES, Iowa ? Senior Kaylee Manns became Iowa State's career record holder for assists and the 13th-ranked Cyclones hit .358 to sweep UW-Milwaukee, 3-0 (25-16, 25-10, 25-15), Saturday afternoon at Hilton Coliseum. The Cyclones improved to 2-0 to start the season for the first time since 2006.

The win also marked the 80th of head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch's career, making her the fastest coach in school history to reach the mark. Johnson-Lynch is now 80-53 (.602) and tied with Mary Fischl as the third winningest coach in school history.

The Cyclones improved offensively from Friday's season-opening sweep of the Panthers (0-2), blistering the ball at a.358 clip after hitting just .178 in the first match between the teams.

“We made a couple small adjustments, but most of the improvement came on what we did on our side of the net,” Iowa State head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch said. “We cleaned some things up on our side. I didn't think we hit very well last night so we tried to give Kaylee (Manns) some feedback on who to set when and some feedback on blocking.”

Manns, an All-American from Topeka, Kan., now has 4,419 career assists. She broke the previous mark, which was held by Lisa Burke since 1990, with a set in the second frame that resulted in a Victoria Henson kill.

“This record is probably going to stand for a long time,” Johnson-Lynch said. “For her to break it so early in the season, this is going to make it incredibly hard to beat. It says a lot about what she's meant for this program.

“She's been a huge piece of the improvement we've had over the last four years. As Kaylee has improved, so has the team. I'm excited for her and she is very deserving to be number one in that spot.”

The Cyclones came out of the gate hot, hitting .371 in the first set to claim a 25-16 win. Victoria Henson had six kills while Rachel Hockaday and Jamie Straube notched four each in the set.

Unlike Friday, ISU kept its foot on the pedal in the second frame, hitting .462 to take a 25-10 win and head into the intermission with a 2-0 lead.

The Cyclones scored the first four points of the set but UW-Milwaukee rallied back to tie it at 6-6 on a kill from Maddie Sueppel. After a kill by Hockaday and an answer from Milwaukee's Jena Berg made it 7-7, ISU went on an 18-3 run to end the set.

Henson finished with eight kills in the second set and the ISU defense had a pair of blocks to hold UWM to a -.071 hitting percentage in the frame.

The Cyclones kept the pressure on in the final set, jumping out to an 11-4 lead. ISU never looked back on its way to a 25-15 win and its second sweep of the young season.

The Cyclones were led offensively in the match by Henson's 16 kills. Henson hit .387 in the contest after hitting just .160 in the opener. Hockaday added a nice all-around performance, chipping in 11 kills, nine digs, a solo block and a block assist. Manns finished with 36 assists, eight digs and three service aces on her memorable day.

Kelsey Petersen and Straube had five kills each for ISU. Petersen hit .455 in the match and is hitting .375 after two matches.

Defensively, ISU also got 14 digs from Ashley Mass, who reached double-digits for the 63rd time in her career.

The Panthers were led by Sueppel's seven kills and Lauren Felsing's 14 digs.

The Cyclones will be back in action Wednesday evening in Cedar Falls, Iowa against Northern Iowa. The match will begin at 7 p.m.