Top serving volleyball teams ISU, West Virginia to face off in at Hilton
Iowa State’s No. 2 Mackenzie BigbeeCQ and No. 12 Tory KnuthCQ block Kansas State’s Courtney TraxsonCQ’s attempt of sending the ball over the net Wednesday, Oct. 9, at Hilton Coliseum. The Cyclones swept the Wildcats 3-0.
October 10, 2013
Being left out of the top 25 for the first time this season didn’t seem to have a negative effect on the Cyclones as they completed a sweep of Kansas State on Wednesday. The ISU volleyball team will have a chance for their second-consecutive home win on Saturday when it hosts West Virginia.
The Cyclones (9-5, 3-1 Big 12) hope to keep momentum from their sweep of the Wildcats on their side when they host the Mountaineers (15-3, 2-2 Big 12) on Saturday.
“It’s great to have that momentum to carry into the next match since we’re at home again,” said ISU right side hitter Mackenzie Bigbee. “I think the crowd will be really into it again as well, and we just have to keep what we had from tonight throughout the practices the rest of this week and hold it for the next game.”
Bigbee had nine kills in 28 attempts in Wednesday’s match against the Wildcats for a .250 hitting percentage. She had more kills than any Kansas State player and was third on the team in the match behind freshman Ciara Capezio and redshirt freshman Morgan Kuhrt.
The match on Saturday will feature the top two teams in the Big 12 in service aces with the Cyclones being the best serving team in the conference with 1.62 per set. West Virginia is No. 2 in the conference with 1.33 service aces per set. ISU middle blocker Tory Knuth continues to lead the Big 12 with 0.44 service aces per set.
The Cyclones will have their hands full when trying to defend against the Big 12 leader in kills. West Virginia freshman Jordan Anderson is on top of the conference with 3.98 kills per set so far this season.
ISU coach Christy Johnson-Lynch said that for the match against West Virginia she wants the out-of-system play to continue to get better, but also talked about intensity.
“We’ve talked a lot about intensity,” Johnson-Lynch said. “We can’t have it for a while and then give it up for a few points and not pay attention to ‘oh shoot I was supposed to be up for that tip, oh shoot I was supposed to block the line and I blocked cross court.’ Some of that’s experience but we have to be very, very focused and execute time and time again.”
The Cyclones take on the Mountaineers at 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 12, at Hilton Coliseum.
