Iowa State swept Baylor (25-19, 25-14, 25-18) in the annual Dig Pink match on tonight at Hilton Coliseum. 

The lowdown

The No. 16 Cyclones started off slow and let Baylor jump out in front 4-0, but after Iowa Staate took the lead 13-12 in the first set, it didn’t let go of the lead and never looked back. 

“I think a sign of mentally tough teams is being able to weather the storm,” said coach Christy Johnson-Lynch. “You’re not always going to play perfect and sometimes the other team is going to play really well, so we weathered the storm a little bit and I think that’s a really good sign for us.”

Iowa State had three players lead the team in the attack department tallying eight kills each in Carly Jenson, Hannah Willms and Tenisha Matlock. The Cyclones also did not have a player get into double-digit kills, which exemplifies their balanced attack. 

The Cyclones played all 14 of the players on the roster tonight and had 10 of them record at least one kill.

“I was really excited about the people that came off the bench,” Johnson-Lynch said. “They all did a really great job.”

Turning point

The turning point in this match was in the very first set when junior Jaime Straube served an ace to take the lead from the Bears and seemingly suck the life out of Baylor.

The Cyclones came out and let Baylor get out in front early, but once they got the lead back at 13-12, they never let it get away from them the entire match. 

“I think once we started to get under control in the middle of that game,” Johnson-Lynch said when asked about a crucial spot in the match. “We didn’t panic and I think that’s a really good sign for us.”

X factor

Tenisha Matlock — ISU sophomore middle back

Adding another game to her string of great matches as of late, Matlock added eight kills and hit on a .444 clip. She also added eight block assists which is a career high for the underclassmen middle back.

“She’s just so athletic. She can step the wrong way and still recover and go out and block the other way,” Johnson-Lynch said. “It’s very unique. I think we’ve come to almost expect this from her — to hit above .400 and have about five blocks for the night. She’s just a tremendous athlete.”

By the numbers

14 — The number of Cyclones that participated in the match tonight.

10 — The number of players that recorded at least one block. 

13 — The number of total team blocks Iowa State had, which is a season-high.

Postgame chatter

“I think it’s just our side. Just letting us know where our blockers are at and where our hitters are set up,” Matlock on what was working in the match.

“It helped a lot. We had Monday off and went hard Tuesday. It was really nice just to get treatment done and rest,” Hannah Willms on this past week being a bye week. 

“I think it was just so even because we didn’t just get it from hits today. We got it from blocks and from aces, which is really good for us. It was an all-around good game,” Willms with her thoughts on the game. 

“I think we just figured their hitters out. And that’s what really got us more of our blocks,” Carly Jenson on what was working on blocking.

Up next

The Cyclones have another bye week and then will head to College Station, Texas, for another Big 12 match to face Texas A&M (15-4, 4-2 Big 12), which has been receiving votes to be ranked as of late.