IOWA CITY — The annual in-state rivalry began with a kill from Iowa State sophomore middle blocker Jamie Straube and it ended just an hour later as the Cyclones made quick work of the Hawkeyes at Carver-Hawkeye Arena (25-15, 25-12, 25-14).

With the win, Iowa State (7-1) not only picks up its seventh consecutive victory on the season but it also earns the first victory for Iowa State in the seventh annual Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk series.

“We were definitely ready to play, our team was very fired up, and we wanted to kick off the Cy-Hawk series in a good way so they were pretty pumped to play tonight,” said coach Christy Johnson-Lynch.

After the match started at 10-10 in the first set, ISU senior outside hitter Victoria Henson took over with seven kills on a .538 clip and no errors.

The Cyclones rode that momentum to a 25-15 victory in the first set and a 4-0 lead into the second set. That would be the closest the Hawkeyes would get in the second set as Straube and Henson swung for four kills apiece in the Cyclones 25-12 win in the second.

Both teams came out a bit slow in the third with five errors in the first 11 points but with the score at 9-8 the Cyclones rattled off seven straight points to gain enough momentum for a 25-14 victory in the third and final set.

The 11th ranked Cyclones continued their offensive success by hitting .326 as a team, the identical hitting percentage the team had compiled over its previous five matches. Leading Iowa State in kills for the seventh time this season was Henson who finished with 12 kills and no errors on a .545 clip.

“She’s kind of got the magic touch right now. It seems like everything she touches it turns into a kill,” Johnson-Lynch said of Henson. “It doesn’t matter if the set is good or bad, 8 feet off or up-tight, she is just doing such a great job of getting her feet to the ball making great attack decisions and terminating. I think she’s one of the best in the country at that right now.”

Also standing out on offense for the Cyclones were Straube and right side hitter Kelsey Petersen who both hit .500 clips and ended with nine and six kills respectively. Sophomore setter Alison Landwehr compiled 29 assists in the three-set match and junior Carly Jenson led all Cyclones with 10 digs.

The Cyclones overpowered the Hawkeyes at the net with 11 total team blocks to only one for the Hawkeye hitters. With only one solo block among those 11 blocks, Johnson-Lynch has seen improvement with her team blocking as a unit.

“We’ve improved our blocking numbers by a ton which was a number that was concerning me at the beginning of the season and now I feel a lot better about it,” Johnson-Lynch said.

Now that they have done their part for the Cy-Hawk series, some of the volleyball players will stick around for the Iowa-Iowa State football game tomorrow including Henson who is hoping that a win at Carver-Hawkeye Arena might translate into a win at Kinnick Stadium tomorrow.

“We’re hoping that the football team can do the same tomorrow, we’re hoping,” Henson said.

Following the weekend off, the Cyclones will begin to prepare for the Big 12 conference schedule. The Big 12 season will begin on Wednesday, Sept. 15 when the No. 7 Nebraska Cornhuskers come into Ames High for a showdown of two top 15 programs.