Finishing up their fourth match in a thirty-hour span, the ISU volleyball team completed its third sweep of the weekend with a 3-0 (25-12, 25-14, 25-20) victory over Florida International.

Head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch emptied the bench against the Panthers as thirteen of the fourteen active Cyclones had significant playing time in the win.

“We really wanted to play some other people this weekend not just for playing time but to actually see if this [player] is a potential sub down the road,” Johnson-Lynch said. “Whether another player is struggling, whether we want to make some blocking switches, whatever it is, we wanted to get some other people in there and see if we could be a little more creative.”

Jumping out to a 7-2 lead in the first set, junior Caitlin Mahoney continued her success at the service line with a five point service streak.

Iowa State brought the lead to 19-7 after a kill from junior right side hitter Kelsey Peterson and never looked back, taking the first set 25-12.

In the second, Mahoney started strong again at the service line, helping the Cyclones to a 6-0 lead. Senior outside hitter Victoria Henson led the way for the ISU offense with four kills en route to a 25-14 victory in the second set.

Following the intermission, junior outside hitter Carly Jenson took control with seven of her eleven kills in the third set. Freshman Tenisha Matlock took advantage of her first significant playing time of the season, registering five kills, including the last two to end the third and final set 25-20.

Matlock came in this season as a middle blocker, but following the season-ending knee injury to outside hitter junior Rachel Hockaday, the North Platte, Neb. native has gotten more swings as a hitter.

“I don’t like the middle really because I’m a little slow on the blocks, so I really like the outside and the right side so I thought it was a good position move,” Matlock said of her switch to hitter.

The Henson-Jenson duo both reached double-digit kills in the match, leading the Cyclones with 11 apiece. Henson hit for a .625 clip, leading a Cyclone offensive effort that hit .361 compared to a mere .105 for FIU.

Senior libero Ashley Mass and sophomore setter Alison Landwehr paced the Cyclone defense with 11 and 10 digs, respectively. Landwehr finished with her second double-double of the season with 32 assists to go along with her dig total.

Iowa State (5-1) will be back in action on Wednesday when the team will host intrastate rival, No. 22 Northern Iowa (5-1) at Ames High School.

Match time is set for 7 p.m.

For complete coverage of the Iowa State Challenge, check out Tuesday’s print edition.