The Lowdown

A second chance leads to second life.

Iowa State advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA volleyball tournament with a victory over the No. 25 Miami Hurricanes on Saturday.

The Cyclones were given a second chance to play in front of their home crowd after losing the season finale to Texas A&M.

They took full advantage of it.

“We were taking about that in the locker room,” junior middle back Jamie Straube said. “We said, ‘here you go seniors, this is your senior night’. “The crowd was great. Just having that energy on our side was huge.”

Iowa State began the NCAA tournament as the No.4 overall seed and knocked off UW-Milwaukee and Miami in back-to-back nights. Jamie Straube put in two impressive performances.

Against Miami, she recorded eight kills two block assists. She hit .357 for the match. She was helped out by senior outside hitter Carly Jenson who finished with 11 kills and freshman outside hitter Victoria Hurtt. Hurtt contributed 10 kills.

Iowa State scored the first 12 points in the second set before easily taking the third set as well. Rachel Hockaday was serving for all of those 12 points.

“The main thing is just staying consistent,” Hockaday said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re up by five or ten points, especially in the NCAA tournament. It has a lot to do with our front line. We we’re getting some good touches and got rolling there.”

Turning point: Victoria Hurtt’s kill in the first set

Hurtt, who hit a career high .429, gave Iowa State the lead for good with her kill in the first set that gave the Cyclones the 19-18 lead. The Cyclones trailed 11-6 at one point and rallied back to lead for good.

“I just want to play confident,” Hurtt said. ” I wanted to go out there and play hard and be competitive. My coaches tell me that’s what I do best, so I just wanted to go out there and play hard for my team.”

Hurtt had been battling a sprained ankle that left her in a boot for the final match of the regular season. Her 10 kills showed that the ankle is no longer effecting her play.

She admitted she felt slight pain, but there were matters at hand that were more important.

“It’s not about me anymore,” Hurtt said. “It’s about going out there and playing hard for them (her teammates).”

The X Factor: Jamie Straube: Iowa State middle back

Straube lead the Cyclones offensive attack for the second straight night. In the two NCAA tournament games, Straube has put up 27 kills while hitting .504.

Straube’s only other appearance in the Sweet 16 came as a freshman. This time around the meaning is completely different.

“I appreciate it so much more,” Straube said. “When I was a freshman, I thought the Sweet 16 was just kind of an expectation, so I was just going along with it. Last year kind of put things into perspective about how valuable each game is. This year I embraced it more as opposed to expecting it.”

By the Numbers:

7: Number of kills achieved by Miami’s Lane Carico, the ACC player of the year.

7: number of errors committed by Carico.

35: Attack attempts by Carico

.000: Carico’s hitting percentage

Post game Chatter:

“We have been facing quite a bit of adversity the past couple weeks with injuries. When you go into the NCAA tournament, you have to have a little luck and you have to be healthy.”- coach Christy Johnson-Lynch on the team’s mindset coming into the tournament

“This is the firs match in awhile where we’ve looked like ourselves again. “We played great defense and transitioned and served tough. In my mind, that’s Cyclone volleyball.” Johnson-Lynch on the team’s performance.

“She was hitting against Kelsey Petersen and Tenisha Matlock for a lot of the night. That’s a very big block. We tried to just have two up on her and anticipated a lot of shots and rolls from her. That’s something she relies on. Once we took that away, that’s when she started struggling.” Johnson Lynch on shutting down Carico.

Up Next: Iowa State will take on either Washington or Minnesota on Friday Dec. 9 in Minneapolis. This is the fourth time in six seasons that the Cyclones have advanced to the Sweet 16.