The ISU volleyball team has continued its undefeated Big 12 success so far, sweeping Kansas on the road at Horejsi Family Athletic Center last night in straight sets (25-22 25-17 25-15).

Last year in the same situation, Kansas knocked off Iowa State. This year the crowd was kept in check, and the Cyclones swept the Jayhawks.

Set one was tight throughout, the Jayhawks had the initial lead 13-9. Iowa State battled back to tie the game at 21. After, Iowa State took the lead with a Carly Jenson kill, which was a big theme of the night, and took the set.

“We did start off kind of shaky,” said coach Christy Johnson-Lynch, “but we got into a better groove of passing and defensive at the end of the first set.”

In set two the Jayhawks jumped out to an early 6-2 lead which led to a time out called by coach Johnson-Lynch.

“[In the time out] I was just encouraging them to keep serving tough and playing defense,” Johnson-Lynch said. “They were starting to break down, they couldn’t really pass or get much going offensively, so that’s when we really got going on a run.”

After the time out the Cyclones went on a 10-0 run to take the lead and go up 12-6. After that run Kansas seemingly had the momentum sucked out of them and Iowa State never looked back.

Set three was dominated by Iowa State. Senior Carly Jenson had six kills and behind her Tenisha Matlock had three. They had a combined nine of the 13 kills of the set.

Iowa State out-hit Kansas .310 to Kansas’ .124. They also had fewer errors with 14 compared to Kansas’ 21. Coming into the game, focus was on stopping outside hitter Allison Mayfield and they did just that. Mayfield was held to a -.029 hitting clip and eight errors.

Leading Iowa State on the offensive side of the net was Jenson. She had 15 kills on a .303 clip with nine digs, nearly giving her third straight double-double. Behind her was freshman Hannah Willms who had nine kills and Matlock who had eight.

“She was just exceptional offensively,” Johnson-Lynch said. “What I was most impressed with was when she able to get some kills out of system, when she was able to hit through blocks that were waiting for her and finding a way to get kills in tough situations.”

Junior setter Alison Landwehr had one of her best games on the offensive end tallying four kills along with her 35 assists. Landwehr is second in the Big 12 with 11.13 assists per set. 

On the defensive side libero Kristen Hahn led the Cyclones with 16 digs. She currently leads the Big 12 as a sophomore in digs per set with 5.65. Matlock led in the block department with three block assists. 

Even with the Cyclones’ strong start to Big 12 play, they face a daunting opponent next on the schedule in No. 8 Texas.

“I think we’re becoming a pretty good blocking team,” Johnson-Lynch said. “[Against Texas] our middles are going to have to stay balanced and we’ll have to try and make their offense a little more predictable.”

Iowa State and Texas will start play in Hilton Coliseum at noon on Sunday.