The Lowdown

Behind a career night from junior middle back Jamie Straube, the No. 4 Cyclones swept Wisconsin-Milwaukee in a defensive battle to advance to round two in the NCAA Tournament (25-19, 25-23, 25-23). 

Straube hit a career-high .652 which is the second-highest hitting clip in the postseason in school history. Straube had 15 kills and also added four block assists to go with that. 

The Panthers came in with a game plan to slow down senior go-to Carly Jenson and succeeded, but that left the middles open for Iowa State to capitalize on. Jenson managed only nine kills on the night on a .179 hitting clip. 

In an attempt to go elsewhere with the ball, freshman Hannah Willms received the most amount of sets on the night with 34. Willms had 10 kills on a .147 clip for the match. She also managed a solo block and a block assist. 

The Panthers have a similar style of play as the Cyclones — frustrating teams with their defense, which both teams did to each other during the match. 

Iowa State managed nine total blocks on the night and had six players in the block column. 

X Factor

Jamie Straube — Straube had a career night in the hitting percentage column with .652 on the night. As the Panthers keyed on stopping senior Carly Jenson, Straube exploited holes in the defense for a huge night. Straube also had the game-winning kill in set two and the match-winning kill in set three. 

Turning Point

After being down 19-15 in set two, the Cyclones rattled off eight straight points and finished the set on a 10-4 run to go up two sets to none going into the locker room. 

By the Numbers

.652 – Jamie Straube’s hitting percentage. Her career-high and the second-highest total in ISU postseason history.

5-1 – Iowa State is now 5-1 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament under head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch.

2,400 – Junior setter Alison Landwehr surpassed this number on her way to becoming eighth all-time in Iowa State’s history. 

4-0 – The Cyclones are 4-0 when playing at the Hilton Coliseum for the NCAA Tournament. 

Postgame Chatter

“We don’t play a lot of teams that go toe to toe with us defensively and I thought Milwaukee did just that.” – Christy Johnson-Lynch on UW-Milwaukee. 

“I was like ya know what, I’m swinging. I just got that confidence and it was just working for me. I wanted to show my team that I’m not going down without a fight.” – Jamie Straube on what was going right.

“I was a little nervous at first. Ya know, what tournament game playing in, but my teammates were very supportive and they had my back and that really helped a lot.” – Hannah Willms on her first NCAA Tournament game.

Next Up

Iowa State will play No. 25 Miami (Fla.) at the Hilton Coliseum for round two Saturday at 6:30 p.m.