Nolan, Schaben Earn Big 12 Weekly Honors

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State libero Caitlin Nolan has been named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week, and Jess Schaben has been named the Big 12 Rookie of the Week, the conference announced Monday. The duo were honored for their efforts in ISU's four-set win over TCU on Saturday.

Nolan won her sixth career Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week award, and her second of 2015. Nolan now ranks fourth in Big 12 history for career DPOW awards, with her predecessors at libero, Kristen Hahn (17-time Big 12 DPOW) and Ashley Mass (15-time Big 12 DPOW) being among those ahead of her. Iowa State won its 42nd Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week award since its inception in 2007, the next closest team has 15.

Schaben became the 14th player to win at least three Big 12 Rookie of the Week awards since the honor started in 2009. She is also the first Cyclone to be a three-time Big 12 Rookie of the Week. Iowa State has won 12 Big 12 Rookie of the Week Awards in the past six years, only Oklahoma (13) and Texas (20) have won more.

Nolan, the 2014 Big 12 Libero of the Year, recorded 30 digs in the win over the Horned Frogs. It marked the third time this season Nolan has cracked 30 digs in a match, and her second four-set match with at least 30 digs. Of the 10 highest single-match dig totals in the Big 12 in 2015, Nolan has six of them. The senior was consistent throughout the entire match, recording at least five digs in each set, peaking with nine digs in the first and third sets.

Schaben, a freshman from Defiance, Iowa, was the crucial cog to helping Iowa State close out the match in the fourth set. With the fourth set tied at 21-21, and having just two kills across the rest of the fourth set, Schaben came back into the front row and made the difference. She recorded back-to-back kills to put ISU back ahead 23-21, and at 24-22 it was her 16th kill of the afternoon that sealed the match for Iowa State. Schaben earned her 16 kills at a .341 hitting percentage, and tied a season-best with three block assists.

Nolan, Schaben and the rest of the Cyclones are back in action on Wednesday at Hilton Coliseum for a 6:30 p.m. match against West Virginia.