The ISU volleyball team played its Cardinal and Gold scrimmage on Saturday. The Cardinal team, that included senior libero Kristen Hahn, won 3-1 against the Gold team.

The Cardinal team finished the scrimmage with 15 total blocks and the Gold team recorded seven. Redshirt sophomore Tory Knuth and redshirt freshman Natalie Vondrak each had a solo block for the Cardinal team.

“I loved our blocking. I am so excited to say that, because I haven’t been able to say that for a long time. We’ve really been working on it,” ISU coach Christy Johnson-Lynch said. “I feel like overall I’m really encouraged and excited about what I am seeing.”

Cyclones choose starting setter

After Iowa State’s scrimmage, Johnson-Lynch announced that sophomore setter Jenelle Hudson had won the starting position ahead of junior Taylor Goetz. She will replace All-American setter Alison Landwehr.

Hudson had 37 total assists during the scrimmage along with six digs and two kills for the Cardinal team. Goetz had 26 assists and 11 digs for the Gold team.

“[Hudson] will be our starting setter, but I do love what Goetz is doing,” Johnson-Lynch said. “She does some really fun things. She finds the middle really well. I think she is a really nice presence on the floor.”

True freshmen make improvements

Freshmen Samara West, Maria Fruechte and Ciara Capezio had their first opportunity to play for Iowa State at the scrimmage. Johnson-Lynch said after the scrimmage that “for sure one, maybe two” of the true freshmen will play this season.

West finished the scrimmage with seven kills and two block assists for the Gold team.

“I thought [West] was a whole different person,” Hahn said. “We have never seen her perform like that in practice. That’s a good thing to see.”

Fruechte had nine kills and six digs for the Gold team. Capezio had five total kills after playing for both teams and had three straight aces.

“[Capezio] played really well. She passed really well, too,” Hahn said. “I think she was a little nervous at first. She came out; she had some big swings and had some huge blocks and same with [Fruechte]. I think they did really well.”

Conditioning a point of emphasis leading into season opener

Although the team had many positives come out of the scrimmage, there are still a few areas in which the team would like to improve before its first match against Cincinnati on Friday.

“We did feel like we wore down a little bit at the end. We got a little bit tired, so we’ve got to learn how to push through that, and we’re going to have some weekends coming up where we have matches in a row,” Johnson-Lynch said. “We’re going to have to be able sustain a high level of play over a long period of time.”