Creighton Outlasts Cyclones, 3-2

Friday, December 3

Minneapolis, Minn.

4:30 PM

Iowa State

Creighton (NCAA First Round)

12.03.2010 | Volleyball

By: cyclones.com

STATS | MEDIA CONFERENCE | HIGHLIGHTS

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The Cyclones (20-9) fell in a close match in round one of the NCAA Tournament Friday night in five sets, 25-27, 25-16, 23-25, 25-19, 11-15, to the Creighton Bluejays (21-11) at the Sports Pavilion at the University of Minnesota. It is Iowa State's first-ever loss in the first round of the tournament.

"The stats tonight were close," head Iowa State coach Christy Johnson-Lynch said. "Sometimes it comes down to how you play at particular times, how you play at critical points, that counts for everything. That was the difference tonight. They were aggressive when they needed to be."

A battle from the start, the Bluejays hit .300 in game one to take the 1-0 lead. The Cyclones rebounded strong in game two, hitting .447. In the end though, stats were secondary to the emotion both teams took onto the court.

Creighton, the underdog from the Missouri Valley Conference, made its first trip to the conference championship match last Saturday and followed it up with the school's first-ever selection to the NCAA Tournament on Sunday. While some programs might have had stage fright, the Bluejays were ready to prove their worth the tournament crowd.

"Creighton played really well," Johnson-Lynch said. "They served very tough, as tough as we've seen all year. They knew our weaknesses and exploited them. They certainly didn't act like a team at the tournament for the first time."

In stark comparison, the Cyclones made their fifth-straight trip to the postseason dance after reaching the Sweet 16 in 2007 and 2009 and making a run to the Elite Eight in 2008 that began with first and second round wins in Minnesota.

"We played well in the fourth game," Iowa State libero Ashley Mass said. "We had momentum going into the fifth set that we had to use and we didn't start strong. We should have used that momentum."

Iowa State continued to struggle on defense against the Bluejays, recording no blocks in either the fourth or fifth games and posting only five blocks on the night.

For Iowa State's two All-Big 12 seniors, Mass and Victoria Henson, the first round loss was tough to swallow. Mass and Henson appeared in 11 consecutive NCAA Tournament matches for the Cyclones, playing 42 sets in the span.

"These two girls are two of the best players in the country," Johnson-Lynch said. "They led us to all the success we've had over the last few years and really raised the bar for Iowa State volleyball. We're really disappointed in this loss but when you raise the bar so high, anything less than the success of the last few years is going to be disappointing."

Mass, playing in her 129th match, finishes her career tied with Steph McCannon (1992-95) as the most active player in Cyclone history. She recorded a season-high 35 digs against Creighton to leave her with 2,294 career digs, more than 250 digs ahead of any other Big 12 player in league history. Mass is also the Iowa State record holder with 43 matches of 20 or more digs.

Henson posted her fourth straight double-double on the night and her third consecutive match with 20 or more kills. She finished with season-highs in both kills (26) and digs (21). With 1,726 kills in her four years as a Cyclone starter, Henson leaves Iowa State as the only Cyclone to ever reach the 1,700 kill milestone.

"I loved being at Iowa State these last few years," Henson said. "I enjoyed learning from all of the coaches and every minute of making the tournaments."

It was a big night for junior Carly Jenson and setter Alison Landwehr as well. Both players had double-doubles and career numbers. Jenson posted 17 kills to go along with a personal-best 21 digs while Landwehr had 11 digs and a career-best 62 assists. Landwehr is the first Cyclones since Kaylee Manns in 2008 to have 60 or more assists in a match.