Middle blockers Debbie Stadick and Jamie Straube battled through aches and pains to out-block the second-best blocking team in the Big 12.

The middle blocking duo played well Wednesday night in No. 13 Iowa State’s sweep of Kansas State (25-20, 25-22, 25-16) at Ames High School, notching six combined blocks of the teams’ total of 11.

“It’s definitely been something we’ve been working on all week, or all season for that matter,” Stadick said. “I guess personally it feels really good to just get out there and execute on what we’ve been practicing.”

Their six combined blocks matched Kansas State’s team total on the night.

In preparation for this match, coach Christy Johnson-Lynch emphasized improving the team’s blocking numbers, a plan that came to fruition.

“I’ve said many times this week that we have to improve our blocking numbers, and we definitely did that tonight,” Johnson-Lynch said. “I thought we blocked well and we haven’t seen that for a while, so we’re really excited about that.”

Earlier in the week, both Straube and Stadick had been experiencing injuries that had been taxing their quality of play. Stadick played with a sprained ankle during Saturday’s loss to Kansas, while Straube had been playing through pain in both her shins. However, Johnson-Lynch says their status is getting better and was constantly improving leading up to this match.

“They’re both feeling a lot better and they were able to take a couple days off this week, so I think that helped a lot,” Johnson-Lynch said. “They might not be 100 percent, but they’re getting close to it.”

Kansas State (9-10, 3-5 Big 12) came into Ames touting the second-best blocking totals in the Big 12, compiling 2.6 blocks per set, trailing only No. 3 Nebraska.

However, the Cyclones (12-4, 5-3) had a task preferable to the Cornhuskers ahead of them Wednesday.

The Wildcats’ offensive ace, outside hitter JuliAnne Chisholm, was one of only two players on the team who was averaging at least two kills per set, the other being middle blocker Kaitlynn Pelger at 2.8 kills per set.

Kansas State’s lack of offensive weapons made it easy for Iowa State to concentrate on blocking assignments.

The Cyclones managed to hold Chisholm to no kills, a first for her since 2008, when she received limited playing time. To add insult to injury, Chisholm also registered five attack errors in a total of 22 attacks, leaving her with a -.227 hitting percentage.

“[Limiting Chisholm] was definitely something we wanted to focus on because every team has their big hitters that we’re going to have to slow down, so that was really good for us to be able to do that to her tonight,” Johnson-Lynch said.

Straube credited the team’s preparation to Kansas States’ stifled offensive production, with the Wildcats hitting for only .085 compared to the Cyclones’ .229 hitting percentage.

“We always wanted to make sure we knew where their hitters were and kind of what they were hitting,” Straube said.

“But a lot of it was just us saying, we’re going to be aggressive with the block and we’re going to just go get the ball, and not worry too much about it.”