The first-ever meeting between Iowa State and Texas Christian was a little more special for one Cyclone volleyball player, who grew up just 30 minutes from Fort Worth, Texas.

As No. 19 Iowa State (8-5, 2-1 Big 12) swept TCU (13-3, 2-1) in straight sets (25-19, 25-19, 25-17) on Saturday, freshman Caitlin Nolan, native of Southlake, Texas, found familiar opponents in both the school and its players on the other side of the net.

Playing for the Horned Frogs was one of Nolan’s high school teammates, Sutton Sunstrum, and Sutton’s older sister, Sloane Sunstrum. 

“It was a little bit of a change, she did awesome tonight,” Nolan said of playing against Sutton. “Playing with her kind of made me more fired up for this game; I wanted to do better because I was playing Sutton.”

Nolan appeared in all three sets for the Cyclones and continued to provide increased production for the team as one of three players to reach double digits in digs with 10.

While libero Kristen Hahn has had three consecutive matches with at least 25 digs, her own numbers were toned down against TCU. Notching six in both the first and third sets, the junior still led the team with a total of 15 digs.

“I think we do a good job of balancing it all out — of course Hahn is amazing and is going to get most of the digs,” Nolan said. “It’s good for if she needs us to pick up some of the slack that we can do that for her.”

Hahn agreed with Nolan, adding that some of the team’s best performances this season have been when the digs have been equally shared.

“It’s really good that everyone can step up and make plays; I think that’s huge for us,” Hahn said. “When we played Nebraska, I think we had four people in double-digit digs.”

After seeing lower-than-normal dig numbers early in the season, ISU coach Christy Johnson-Lynch stressed defense leading up to Big 12 play. That has paid off as Hahn has averaged 6.08 digs per set in the first three conference matches.

Nolan has stepped up, too, and has seen her workload continue to grow. In three conference matches, Nolan has contributed 29 digs.

“She’s getting more and more comfortable,” Johnson-Lynch said. “When she first came into preseason, I thought: ‘She’s all right.’ I had seen her play a lot better. … I think she’s settling into her role and getting more and more confident.”

Nolan said she considered attending TCU simply because of its proximity to her hometown. Now after having come to Iowa State, she’s excited to have the opportunity to play close to home later this season.

“Since I’m 11 hours away from my home, getting to go 30 minutes away from home, all my friends and family are going to come when we play [at] TCU,” Nolan said. “I’m really excited about that.”