Iowa State Defeats Busto Arsizio B1, 3-1

BUSTO ARSIZIO, Italy – Iowa State's final match of its European tour ended in victory as the Cyclones defeated Busto Arsizio's B1 squad 3-1 (27-25, 22-25, 25-20, 25-19). The two squads played a fifth exhibition set, with the Cyclones coming out on top of that 25-23.

Busto Arsizio's B1 squad is the 2014 regional champions and will be competing in next weekend's national championships. Busto Arsizio's A1 squad plays in Italian Serie A and was the runner-ups in the Italian play-offs in 2014.

Busto Arsizio was the better team for the first half of the set, sprinting out to a pair of seven-point leads, including a 12-5 advantage. The Cyclones were struggling to score points as only two of their five came without the assistance of a Busto error. Iowa State was able to slowly climb back into the set and eventually reduce the Busto lead to two points at 20-18 on a Samara West kill of an overpass, but Busto Arsizio got back to work and brought up a set point at 24-20. The Cyclones scored five straight points via a Victoria Hurtt kill, a Busto attack error, back-to-back block assists from Natalie Vondrak and Suzanne Horner and a Vondrak kill. Busto tied it back up with a kill, but another attack error gave the Cyclones a second set point. Horner and Vondrak combined for their fourth block of the set to give ISU the first at 27-25.

Iowa State was the team to control the early tempo in the second set, posting a pair of three-point leads while Busto Arsizio only had one lead before tying it at 11-11. Busto took control of the set from there, getting out to a three-point lead of their own at 17-14. However, the Cyclones took four of the next five points and a West solo block locked the score back up at 18-18. However, Busto was able to re-establish its lead with three consecutive points to make it 21-18. ISU was able to get the deficit down to one, but eventually Busto crossed the line with a kill off the ISU block to take the second 25-22.

The third set started out with Busto Arsizio getting out to the early advantage with an early 9-4 lead. On the back of some strong serving from Horner, ISU was able to quickly reduce the deficit and tie the set up at 9-9. However, the Cyclones would not get their first lead until 13-12 on a Vondrak kill on a slide move. From there the Cyclones took off and never looked back. The Cyclones took advantage of five consecutive Busto errors to build a lead of 23-15. ISU did not have the strongest finish to set three, but were able to get the needed points on a pair of Ciara Capezio kills to take the set 25-20.

Iowa State carried the momentum into the fourth set, taking the first five points. Iowa State continuously expanded its lead throughout the set, reaching a peak lead of 22-10. Busto went on a late run in the fourth before Capezio closed out the set and the match at 25-19.

In the exhibition set, both teams started at an even pace, trading off points before ISU got ahead at 6-5 and held the lead for a bit. The Cyclones had a run of six points out of seven, capped off by Vondrak winning a 50-50 at the net to move ahead 17-10. However, Busto Arsizio ran off five straight points to stay in the set at 17-15. Capezio was able to help give the Cyclones some control as she was responsible for four of ISU's next five points to put Iowa State back ahead at 22-19. However, Busto would not go away easily as they posted kills on four of the next five points to tie the set at 23-23. The Cyclones were able to close out the set as Vondrak and Capezio got the final kills to take it 25-23.

The Cyclones will spend one more day in Milan sightseeing and exploring the city before returning back home to the United States and Ames on Monday.

Players Mentioned

Ciara Capezio

Ciara Capezio

Suzanne Horner

Victoria Hurtt

Victoria Hurtt

Natalie Vondrak

Natalie Vondrak

Samara West

Samara West

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