No. 11 Cyclones Hold Off Iowa, 3-1

IOWA CITY, Iowa ? Kelsey Petersen had a career-high 14 kills and Ashley Mass finished with a season-high 27 digs as 11th-ranked Iowa State defeated intrastate rival Iowa, 3-1 (25-18, 21-25, 25-19, 25-20), Friday night at the Hawkeye Challenge.

With the win, Iowa State improves to 6-1 this season and takes a 2-0 lead in the Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk Series. The loss is the first of the season for Iowa, which falls to 6-1.

Petersen was joined by in double-figures by Victoria Henson, who also finished with 14 kills, and Debbie Stadick, who added 10 kills in the win. Diane Kieger had four kills and three block assists off the bench for the Cyclones.

“I felt like Iowa played really hard and out worked us tonight,” ISU head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch. “We were fortunate that Victoria had a great match and Kieger came off the bench and played well for us. However, we really need to cleanup our blocking and some other things.

“We've been working on some things with Kelsey and she is hitting a lot lower number of errors this season, and that is something we need to keep seeing from her.”

Defensively, Mass was everywhere for the Cyclones, recording her second-straight match with 20 or more digs. Manns also finished with double-figure digs, notching 11 to go along with 52 assists and post her 54th career double-double. Henson also had a double-double, finishing with 14 digs.

The Cyclones took the first set 25-18 despite not leading until the midway point of the set. ISU trailed by four at 11-7 but fought back to grab its first lead at 15-14. The Hawkeyes regained the lead at 17-16 but ISU closed on a 9-1 run to go up 1-0.

ISU came out better in the second frame, leading 12-9 before Iowa mounted an 8-1 run that proved to be the difference as it went on to win 25-21. The Cyclones hit just .159 while Iowa upped its hitting to .238 in the set.

Iowa State used an 8-4 run midway through the third set to take the frame 25-19 and go up 2-1 in the match. The Hawkeyes closed the gap to four at 22-18 but didn't have an answer for Henson when it counted with the junior blasting a pair of kills down the stretch for the Cyclones.

The Cyclones trailed just briefly in the final set and went on for the 25-20 win. Manns had four kills in the set, including the game winner as ISU hit .234 in the frame while holding Iowa to a .146 hitting efficiency.

The Hawkeyes were paced by Megan Schipper's match-high 17 kills. Emma Krieger Kittle had 12 kills and hit .462. Christina Meister led three Hawkeyes in double-digits with 22 digs.

Iowa State returns to action Saturday at 10 a.m. against Drake.

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Players Mentioned

Victoria Henson

Victoria Henson

Diane Kieger

Diane Kieger

Ashley Mass

Ashley Mass

Kelsey Petersen

Kelsey Petersen

Debbie Stadick

Debbie Stadick

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