ISU Hosts No. 6 Penn State to Open Cyclone Invitational

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AMES, Iowa - The Iowa State volleyball team opens the Cyclone Invitational with a match against No. 6 Penn State on Friday night inside Hilton Coliseum. First serve will be at 6:30 p.m.

Tomorrow night's match against the Nittany Lions, PSU's first-ever trip to Hilton Coliseum, will be the first match of the 2019 Cyclone Invitational. Penn State and LSU will play on Saturday at 2 p.m., while the Cyclones will host LSU on Sunday at noon.

Buy Tickets/Parking Information/Fan Information

Tickets to Friday's match can be bought online now, here, or starting one hour prior to the match at the Hilton Coliseum Ticket Office at the lower Southwest corner of Hilton. Students receive free admission to all Iowa State home volleyball matches, and should enter at the North entrance.

Friday's match will be a Cy'd Out Celebration for Iowa State students and Jr. Cyclone Club members. There will be food trucks, a petting zoo and kids zone outside Hilton Coliseum on the north side. Jr. Cyclone Club members who have not picked up their 2019-20 membership packets can do so. The first 100 students will receive a free food voucher for the food trucks.

A reminder to season ticket holders with parking passes that they may park in any spot in Lots C1, C2, C3 and D1. The numbers on the bottom of the parking pass DO NOT indicate a specific spot where fans have to park.

A portion of the road outside the lower West side of Hilton will be closed from Sept. 3-13. The drive lanes off of Lincoln Way and Center drive will both remain open, but fans will be unable to pass through from North to South or vice versa. The lower West doors and Ticket Office are still accessible, but only from the South side of Hilton.

Iowa State Athletics has a clear bag policy for all home events, for more information click here.

South Dakota Recap

Iowa State opened the home schedule on Tuesday night with a 3-0 sweep of South Dakota. The Cyclones hit .305 as a team, led by 13 kills each from Annie Hatch and Josie Herbst, with the latter getting her 13 at a .500 hitting clip. Eleanor Holthaus had 10 kills, while Candelaria Herrera got her nine kills at a .438 hitting percentage.

About No. 6 Penn State

Penn State opened its season by going undefeated at its home tournament, sweeping Hofstra, Holy Cross and Wichita State in the process. PSU hit .478 as a team last weekend, led by Serena Gray's 3.78 kills per set at a .702 hitting percentage. Penn State's top four hitters are all sophomores.

This will be the second all-time meeting between the two teams, but the first at one another's home court, as the last meeting came in 1995 at New Mexico, PSU winning 3-0. Penn State head coach Russ Rose was the head coach for the Nittany Lions that day, and is in his 41st season leading the team. This is the first year of a three-year triangular tournament agreement between Iowa State, Penn State and LSU. The tournament will head to PSU next year and LSU in 2021.