No. 10 Cyclones Sweep Colorado, 3-0, In Big 12 Opener

Wednesday, September 16

Ames, Iowa

6:30 PM

Iowa State

Colorado

No. 10 Cyclones Sweep Colorado, 3-0, In Big 12 Opener

09.16.2009 | Volleyball

By: cyclones.com

AMES, Iowa ? No. 10 Iowa State got 12 kills from Victoria Henson and 10 from Diane Kieger to defeat Colorado, 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-13), in the Big 12 opener at Hilton Coliseum Wednesday night. With the win, Iowa State improves to 9-1 overall, marking the best start in school history after 10 matches.

As a team, ISU hit .371, committing just 10 errors while notching 43 kills. Colorado (5-5, 0-1 Big 12) was held to a .124 hitting percentage.

Kieger continued her strong play, posting double-figure kills for the second-straight match. Kieger, who hit .600 in the match, also had a service ace and two block assists.

"Diane had a great match,” ISU head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch said. “She's been playing really, really well these last couple of weeks. I talked with her a few weeks ago about proving she had to be out on the floor for us and she will not be denied. She's proving that she's supposed to be out there."

When it wasn't Kieger, it was Henson blasting kills from seemingly all over the court. Her 12 kills and .360 hitting percentage gave her double-figure kills for the fifth-consecutive contest.

Defensively, Iowa State held a 42-29 advantage in digs while also controlling the net with an eight to three advantage in blocks. Kaylee Manns was the only player with double-figure digs, finishing with 10.

Last week's Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week, Ashley Mass, had limited opportunities and saw her streak of matches with 10 or more digs come to an end at 25. The junior finished with nine digs, as did sophomore defensive specialist Caitlin Mahoney.

ISU jumped all over the Buffaloes in the opening set, hitting .517 as a team behind Kieger's six kills on eight swings to win 25-18.

In the second set, ISU cruised out to a 9-2 lead following back-to-back aces from Manns. The Cyclones never trailed in the set and held the Buffaloes to a .000 hitting percentage in the frame to take the 25-14 victory and head into the break with a 2-0 edge.

The third set was tied at eight following back-to-back kills from Colorado's Becah Fogle before the Cyclones mounted a 17-5 run to close out the set, 25-13, and sweep the match.

Manns posted her 56th career double-double, finishing with 33 assists to go along with her 10 digs.

The Cyclones also controlled the match from the service line, recording seven service aces to just three for Colorado. Manns tied a season-high with three aces to lead ISU.

Colorado was led by Alex Penewell's nine kills. Fogle had eight kills and Kerra Schroeder added six.

Despite the sweep, Johnson-Lynch knows there is room for improvement as Iowa State takes to the road to face No. 2 Texas (6-0) Friday night at Gregory Gym.

"I'm glad we took care of business tonight but we always see things we need to work on,” Johnson-Lynch said. “We need to do some things better to be able to beat those top-tier teams in the Big 12."