Wanting to take full advantage of only the second time Iowa State has hosted an NCAA Tournament match, the Cyclones made quick – if sloppy – work of first round opponent George Mason.

The first set was not a dominating performance by the Cyclones as most would have expected. Outside hitters Rachel Hockaday and Victoria Henson each had four kills but neither hit very well with Hockaday hitting .118 and Henson .067. However, Iowa State was able to get past a strong defensive effort by George Mason and win by a narrow 25-22 margin.

“They dug a lot of balls they put a lot of pressure on us defensively and I think blocked pretty well, blocked a lot of balls against us and certainly made us earn that win,” said coach Christy Johnson-Lynch.

George Mason’s defensive pressure would be a constant theme for much of the match, making the night difficult for some of the Cyclones’ main offensive weapons.

“It was very frustrating to hit against them because they set up a good bock and if you did hit around it the defense was there to pick it up,” Hockaday said.

Iowa State made vast improvements both offensively and defensively during the second set. The Cyclones collected 17 kills on 31 attempts and committed only three errors while allowing Baylor to hit just 7-34 scoring only 13 points.

Already trailing 2-0, the Patriots entered the third set with hopes of avoiding a sweep and repeating the success they had against Iowa State in the first set. George Mason did keep the score close, trailing only 9-6, however, the Cyclones would not allow them to get much closer, taking control of the match with a commanding 23-17 lead. Freshman middle blocker Jamie Straube had seven kills in the final set and the Cyclones clinched a match against Wichita State with a 3-0 sweep of George Mason.

Defensively the Patriots were able to keep with the Cyclones for much of the match. However, offensively George Mason made too many mistakes. 17 errors led to just a .071 hitting percentage. Offensive struggles aside, Patriots coach Pat Kendrick was still happy with the way the team played offensively.

“I thought our team came out ready to play and I thought certainly in the first set and even towards the end of the third set I thought we fought really hard for points,” said George Mason coach Pat Kendrick.

Coming into the match the Cyclones were heavily favored as they had the home court and were the higher seeded team. Because of this, the Cyclones knew how easy it would be to overlook the underdog George Mason team.

“I think once you get in the tournament every team is good,” Johnson-Lynch said. “There is no team that you can look past, not that we did that at all, I think we were ready for George Mason.”

Johnson-Lynch and the Cyclones will try for their third straight year when they host the Wichita State Shockers, Saturday in Hilton Coliseum at 6:30 P.M.