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Iowa State University Athletics
Cyclones Look For Third-Straight Win On Saturday
10.25.2012 | Volleyball
AMES, Iowa – After back-to-back matches at home, the No. 22 Cyclones (12-7, 6-3 Big 12) hit the road this weekend, heading to Forth Worth, Texas to take on TCU (13-8, 2-6 Big 12) on Saturday afternoon. Iowa State swept TCU at Hilton Coliseum earlier this season.
The Cyclones are coming off their fourth win over a ranked opponent, beating No. 17 Kansas, 3-1, on Wednesday night. Outside hitter Victoria Hurtt continued her offensive surge, picking up a team-high 17 kills, leaving her with an average of 3.95 kills per set over Iowa State's last five matches. In Big 12 play, Hurtt ranks in the top-10 in average (.291), kills per set (3.65) and points per set (3.87).
Iowa State is tops in the league in assists this season, thanks to senior setter Alison Landwehr who is averaging 11.56 assists per set and a corps of strong hitters who have the squad sitting atop the standings in kills per set. As is the Cyclones' pattern under eighth-year head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch, they are also the top digging team in the Big 12, collecting 16.88 digs per set.
Since losing to the Cyclones on Sept. 29, TCU has lost five-straight conference matches, including sweeps by Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas State. The Horned Frogs had a bye on Wednesday after falling at Kansas last weekend. Sloane Sunstrum is averaging a team-high 2.72 kills per set and libero Meghan Horio is grabbing 3.79 digs per set for TCU.
In the first meeting between the teams this season, Iowa State hit .306 while holding TCU to .194 hitting, helped by the Horned Frogs' 15 attack errors. Another Cyclone pattern of 2012 showed itself in the earlier meeting; Iowa State doubled TCU's service aces total, 6-3. On the season, Iowa State is serving 1.26 aces per set, fourth-best in the Big 12.
Saturday's match is the last Big 12 match for Iowa State before the team makes a trip to South Dakota State on Tuesday, Oct. 30. Match time at TCU is set for 1 p.m. CST.
Cyclone Notebook
• After defeating No. 17 Kansas in four sets on Wednesday, Iowa State takes its two match win-streak on the road to TCU on Saturday. Match time is 1 p.m. CST.
• The win is Iowa State's fourth this season over a ranked opponent. The 2011 and 2007 squads hold the record for wins over ranked teams with five.
• Iowa State has won 32 matches against ranked programs, 14 of those by the score of 3-1. Since Christy Johnson-Lynch came to Iowa State, the Cyclones have won 11 four-set matches against top-25 teams.
• The squad is 5-0 at home in Big 12 play for the first time since starting the home conference slate 6-0 in 2009.
• The Cyclones have won four of their last five matches, losing only at No. 8 Texas, as they enter Saturday's match at TCU.
• Iowa State and Kansas played a similar match on Wednesday to their five-set meeting in Lawrence on Sept. 26. Iowa State hit .168 in Ames, up from .149 in Lawrence while the Jayhawks' percentage dropped from .201 on their home court to .147 on the road.
• Service aces played a large part in Wednesday's win for the Cyclones who served up seven aces on the night after recording just a single ace on the road.
• Service errors dropped from 10-6 between the first and second meetings as well.
• In conference play this season, Iowa State is serving up 1.26 aces per set while its defense has limited opponents to 0.91 aces per set.
• Defense was a closer race in the Ames match, as Iowa State had just one more dig (63-62) than Kansas. In Lawrence, Iowa State had eight more digs than the Jayhawks (84-76).
• Errors on the whole helped tell the season series story between the programs. At Kansas, the home team scored 33 points off Iowa State errors. That number dropped to 26 on Wednesday. On the flip side, Iowa State picked up 22 points off KU error on the road but the number rose to 27 at Hilton Coliseum.
• Outside hitter Victoria Hurtt is hitting a blistering .319 over the last five matches, averaging a team-high 3.95 kills per set.
• Rachel Hockaday has also upped her game during the same stretch, slamming 3.00 kills per set, up from her season average of 2.51.
• Hockaday is one of three Big 12 players with at least 10 double-doubles this season, recording her 11th double-double (and third-straight) against the Jayhawks with 10 kills and 11 digs.
• Middle blockers Jamie Straube and Tenisha Matlock have hit well since the comeback win over Texas Tech with averages of .275 and .319, respectively.
• In their careers, Hockaday and Straube have 898 and 895 kills, respectively, as the duo heads into its final two months of the season.
• Straube collected a season-high six block assists in the win over Kansas, lifter her to fifth all-time at Iowa State with 301 block assists.
• Iowa State is first in the Big 12 this season in assists (13.59), kills (14.50) and digs (16.88) during conference play.
• Hurtt is a crucial factor in the Cyclones' offensive numbers as the only Cyclone ranked in the top-10 in the league with 3.65 kills per set this season and 3.87 points per set.
• Hurtt, (.291), Matlock (.286) and Straube (.285) rank in the top-10 in hitting percentage, the only trio from any team ranked in the top-10.
• Kristen Hahn's 5.62 digs per set in league play is still the Big 12 benchmark.
• Jenelle Hudson (0.35) and Hahn (0.29) represent Iowa State in the service rankings, coming in fourth and ninth, respectively.
• Setter Alison Landwehr had 59 assists against the Sooners, the most in a conference match this season.
• Iowa State had 65 total assists against Texas on Oct. 17, tying for the most in a Big 12 match in 2012.
Streaks and Trends
• Iowa State opponents have hit over .300 just 18 times in 242 matches under Johnson-Lynch.
• Iowa State went 14-3 in three set matches in 2011 and is 5-2 in 2012. Under Johnson-Lynch, Iowa State is 94-32 in three set matches.
• Behind Johnson-Lynch's leadership, the Cyclones win 87% (131-19) of their matches when earning the first set victory.
• Iowa State has collected 20 wins in five-consecutive seasons under head coach Johnson-Lynch. The Cyclones have had 11 20+ win seasons since 1982.
• Under Johnson-Lynch, the Cyclones have won at least one match over a top 25 opponent in each of her eight seasons and have defeated at least two top 25 teams in each of the last six seasons.
Revisiting TCU
• Iowa State swept the first-ever meeting between the teams on Sept. 29 in Ames.
• The Horned Frogs have not won a conference match since losing to the Cyclones and carry a 2-6 Big 12 record (13-8 overall) into Saturday's match.
• TCU has been swept four times in conference play this season, three times by ranked opponents (Iowa State, Texas, Kansas State).
• Sloane Sunstrum is averaging a team-high 2.72 kills per set in league play for TCU and is second on the squad with 3.10 digs per set.
• Yvonne Igodan (2.68) and Stephanie Holland (2.41) are the only other Frogs with more than 2.00 kills per set against Big 12 teams.
• Libero Meghan Horio is averaging 3.79 digs per set in conference, leading the team.
• While TCU is out-blocked by opponents, 2.36-1.79, Mattie Burleson has made her presence at the net felt with an average of 1.07 blocks per set.
• In this season's earlier meeting, Holland and Sunstrum put up 11 and 10 kills, respectively for the Horned Frogs.
• Jamie Straube paced Iowa State in the match with 12 kills, the only Cyclone in double figures in kills.
• Iowa State hit .306 against TCU in Ames, while holding the visitors to a .194 average, helped by 15 TCU attack errors and five Iowa State blocks.
• The Cyclones also doubled the Horned Frogs in ace, with six to TCU's three in the match. Iowa State did not have a service error in the contest.
Johnson-Lynch's Defensive Reputation Is Earned
• Since Christy Johnson-Lynch took the reins of the Iowa State volleyball program in 2005, the Cyclones have improved in every category, growing from an also-ran bottom-of-the-league team into a perennial powerhouse that has advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last six seasons.
Maybe the most remarked-upon change has come on defense, where the Cyclones have won four-straight Big 12 Libero of the Year Awards and numerous defensive weekly awards from the Big 12 office.
Ashley Mass (2007-10) holds the Big 12 record with 2,294 career digs and was a two-time AVCA All-American (1st and 3rd Team) and two current Cyclones, Rachel Hockaday (1,130) and Kristen Hahn (1,071) rank in the top-10 at Iowa State for their career dig numbers.
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