Iowa State Hosts Cardinal and Gold Challenge

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State (2-4) takes on Drake (5-1), Iowa (2-3) and Wright State (5-0) for the home-opening Cardinal and Gold Challenge Sept. 7-10. ISU meets Drake Sept. 7 at 6:30 p.m. and follows that up with the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series Sept. 9 at 6:30 p.m. The Cyclones wrap up the tournament with Wright State on Sept. 10 at 11 a.m.

All matches will be streamed on ESPN+

The weekend serves as Youth Volleyball Weekend while fans are encouraged to bring school supplies to donate to the Boys and Girls Club of Story County throughout the tournament. At the home opener vs. Drake, ticket promotions include $3 reserved tickets and students can be entered to win a Yeti cooler and tumbler. Fans can stick around after the match for autographs.

For the Cy-Hawk matchup, all fans are encouraged to wear cardinal. A fan fest will be held in the Scheman Courtyard from 5-6 p.m. with bounce houses, yard games, a photo booth, face painter and a balloon artist. There will be a pre-match tailgate for students in the Scheman Courtyard with free food while free t-shirts will be given away to students at the match. For ticket promotions, five general admission tickets will be $5 at this link.

LAST TIME OUT

The Cyclones took the win over Troy and losses to No. 21 Penn State and LSU at the Tiger Challenge. Eleanor Holthaus highlighted the weekend notching a career-high 25 kills in the five-setter against Troy. Also against Troy, Iowa State blockers put up 19 blocks, coming .5 total blocks from the 10^th highest match total in Iowa State history. Iowa State held Troy to 11 points in the third set to put on track the comeback win from being down 0-2. Troy's 11 points makes for the first time since Nov. 5, 2021 the Cyclones held an opponent to 15 points or less in a set.

For the second-straight week, Iowa State ranks among the top three in the Big 12 with their blocks per set average of 2.58. In NCAA D1 action, the Cyclones rank 46^th as a team and Alexis Engelbrecht ranks 99^th individually with a 1.17 blocks per set average.

Jaden Newsome hit a career mark as she totaled over 200 career kills against No. 21 Penn State. The setter now holds 212 on her career and 23 this season. Newsome also turned in her third double-double of the season against Penn State with 40 assists and 12 digs. An additional milestone was reached by freshman Kiersten Schmitt who brought in her first career game to end with double-digit kills as she finalized 10 versus Troy.

DRAKE

Iowa State will meet Drake for the 59^th time in program history while the all-time series stands in the Cyclones' favor at 38-20. At Hilton, the Cyclones lead the series 19-5.

Mariana Rodrigues leads Drake with 95 kills this season and an average of 4.32 kills per set. Last week, Addison Beagle won Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Week for averaging 11.0 assists per set and 44.0 per match through opening weekend. Drake as a team was picked to finish ninth in the MVC. Head Coach Darrin McBroom is in his ninth year at the helm and holds the second-most career wins at Drake.

IOWA

Iowa State has the advantage in the all-time series with a record of 29-24. The Cyclones hold a series record of 15-8 when playing at home.

Iowa has a new head coach this season in Jim Barnes who led Tulane for six seasons prior to Iowa. Barnes also spent time at Baylor as the head coach from 2004-15. This season, Iowa has wins over Georgia and Florida International and losses to Oklahoma, No. 14 Washington and Colorado. Lily Tessier holds 160 assists on the season, ranking seventh in NCAA D1, while Michelle Urquhart leads Iowa with 47 season kills. Iowa currently ranks in the top 10 in NCAA D1 in assists, digs and kills per set.

WRIGHT STATE
Saturday will mark the first matchup in program history between Iowa State and Wright State. Wright State is off to a 5-0 record with wins over Evansville, Marshall, North Dakota, Western Michigan and Indiana State. Wright State was the only Horizon League team to go undefeated opening weekend as Callie Martin was named Horizon League Player of the Week. Martin had a career-high 24 kills along with 15 digs against Marshall to earn the honor.

Wright State Head Coach Travers Green is in his first season leading the Raiders. Prior to Wright State, Green served as the associate head coach at Mississippi State for four years.

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Players Mentioned

Alexis Engelbrecht

Eleanor Holthaus

Jaden Newsome

Kiersten Schmitt

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics