Iowa State Rallies to Beat Syracuse in Five

CORALVILLE, Iowa – Iowa State (6-1) completed its difficult Friday doubleheader by rallying for a 3-2 (20-25, 25-21, 22-25, 25-19, 15-11) win over Syracuse (7-1) Friday afternoon at Xtream Arena. The Cyclones bounced back from a first-set loss and the Orange hitting .354 across the first three sets with a stronger effort on both sides of the ball to close out the match.

ISU was led by Eleanor Holthaus, who tied her career-best with 22 kills at .326 hitting and got her second double-double of the year with 13 digs. She also had five assists and two blocks. She was joined in double figures by Candelaria Herrera (13 kills at .385 hitting) and Annie Hatch (11 kills). Jaden Newsome got her second double-double of the day with 54 assists and 10 digs, while Brooke Andersen had 10 digs and Marija Popovic posted 10 digs.

Set One: Syracuse 25 Iowa State 20
Syracuse claimed the first six points of the match and would not look back in the first set. The Orange converted their first five shots of the match into kills along with a pair of service aces to pull ahead 10-2. The gap was still eight at 18-10, but SIU was able to run-off four straight to get back within four at 18-14. The Cyclones continued to chip away, getting within two at 19-17 after an Annie Hatch kill, but ISU would not get any closer, as the Orange hit .355 as a team in the first and wrapped it up when Abby Casiano killed at 25-20.

Set Two: Iowa State 25 Syracuse 21
The Cyclones got a much better start to the second set, claiming five of the first six points with Eleanor Holthaus getting two kills in that stretch. The Orange rallied to within one at 9-8, but the Cyclones were sparked by a cross-court Kenzie Mantz kill to go on a 3-0 run to restore a four-point edge. ISU pushed ahead by six at 16-10, but the Orange rallied to within a pair at 17-15. Syracuse's offense continued to execute, hitting .393 in the set, but the Cyclone attack was able to do enough to even the match, hitting .371 in the frame. Iowa State claimed the set when Candelaria Herrera killed at 25-21.

Set Three: Syracuse 25 Iowa State 22
Brooke Andersen's ace made it 3-0 Iowa State to begin the set, and the Cyclones would make it four at 7-3 on a kill by Hatch. Syracuse came back to knot the set at 10-10 on an ace from Viktoriia Lokhmanchuk, but Mantz killed to restore the Cyclone advantage. Iowa State worked ahead by five at 16-11, but the Orange continued to hang in there and were able to tie it again at 19-19 on a Polina Shemanova kill. Holthaus fired wide to give Syracuse its first lead of the set at 21-20, and would pull away to claim the set when Marija Popovic served into the net at 25-22.

Set Four: Iowa State 25 Syracuse 19
Andresen's work behind the service line again got the Cyclones an early 3-0 edge. ISU was able to hold off the Orange through three ties, then finally got some breathing room as a Solei Thomas kill sparked a 3-0 run to put the Cyclones ahead 12-9. Iowa State then strung together six-straight on the serve of Popovic to move ahead 18-10. The ISU defense made a big step up in the frame, holding the Orange to .118 hitting on the frame, including 2.5 total blocks. ISU tied the match on Holthaus' 19th kill of the afternoon at 25-19.

Set Five: Iowa State 15 Syracuse 11
Polina Shemanova's ace gave Syracuse the first breathing room at 3-1, but the Cyclones countered quickly to tie it at 3-3. Lokhmanchuk hit into the net to give ISU its first lead at 5-4, but Syracuse moved back ahead at 8-7 on a back-row kill from Lokhmanchuk. Newsome fired an ace to put ISU ahead again 9-8, and got ahead by two at 11-9 on a cross-court kill from Hatch. Holthaus tipped down the line to make it 12-9, and made it to match point on a Herrera kill at 14-11. Herrera and Newsome combined for a block to wrap things up on the first asking at 15-11.

Player of the Match
Eleanor Holthaus. Iowa State's star right side did it again, posting a huge double-double with a career-high tying 22 kills at .326 hitting and 13 digs for her second double-double of the year.

Up Next
Iowa State wraps up the Cy-Hawk Series Tournament tomorrow against Iowa in the annual Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series matchup at 6 p.m. The match will be stream on Big Ten Network Plus.

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Team Stats

Eleanor Holthaus

Candelaria Herrera

Annie Hatch

Kenzie Mantz

Players Mentioned

Brooke Andersen

Annie Hatch

Candelaria Herrera

Eleanor Holthaus

Kenzie Mantz

Jaden Newsome

Marija Popovic

Solei Thomas

Players Mentioned

Brooke Andersen

Annie Hatch

Candelaria Herrera

Eleanor Holthaus

Kenzie Mantz

Jaden Newsome

Marija Popovic

Solei Thomas

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics