No. 12 Iowa State Defeats South Dakota State, 3-0

Saturday, September 4

Ames, Iowa

11:00 AM

Iowa State

South Dakota State (Iowa State Challenge)

No. 12 Iowa State Defeats South Dakota State, 3-0

09.04.2010 | Volleyball

By: cyclones.com

STATS | HIGHLIGHTS

AMES, Iowa – Four Iowa State players registered double-digit kills as the Cyclone volleyball squad swept South Dakota State 3-0 (25-17, 26-24, 25-22) Saturday afternoon at the Ames High School Gymnasium. The win improved Iowa State to 4-1 on the season.

“I thought we were real sloppy,” Iowa State head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch said. “I thought we were outworked by the other side so I wasn't real pleased with our intensity. We hit decently and we served decently but our ball handling wasn't up to par.”

Victoria Henson and Carly Jenson led the Iowa State attack with 13 kills apiece. Kelsey Petersen contributed 11 kills and Jamie Straube finished with 10. Jenson hit for a .455 clip in the match, a career-high for the junior. Henson also made a big contribution defensively, leading the squad with 14 digs, a season best.

Iowa State's offense came out to play in the early proceedings, racking up 22 kills, while hitting .556 in its 25-17 first set win. The only errors by the Cyclones in the set came from the libero and setter positions.

“We hit really well but we allowed the other team to hit really well,” Johnson-Lynch noted. “We allowed them to get going kill wise and they hit too high of a percentage for what I am comfortable with so we need to do a better job defensively.”

It was a back and forth set until Iowa State pulled away with a 5-0 to increase the lead to 18-11. Henson and Petersen led the Cyclone attack. Henson put up seven kills and eight digs while Petersen converted her first six attacks into kills. Straube also had a perfect first set attacking, converting all four of her attacks.

The second set was another competitive one, but the Cyclones prevailed 26-24. Iowa State got the lead at 6-5 and didn't concede it until 21-21. The teams traded points up to 24-24 before Iowa State collected the final two points, capped off with a Henson kill. Jenson was the second set leader for the Cyclones, collecting five kills and three digs in the frame. SDSU saw strong offensive efforts from Kelli Fiegen and Ellyce Youngren, with both contributing four kills to the Jackrabbits' efforts.

Iowa State didn't waste any time out of the locker room intermission, ticking off the first five points of the third set, three coming via Straube kills. SDSU made a determined comeback and tied up the set at 10-10 before Iowa State rallied off three straight points to retake the lead. The Jackrabbits locked it up again at 18-18, which led to another Cyclone three-point run to give Iowa State the lead and the 25-22 third set victory.

The Cyclones will take to the court again tonight as they take on Florida International at 6:30 p.m.