Wednesday’s match against Kansas marked coach Christy Johnson-Lynch’s 23rd victory this season, surpassing her previous career high of 22 wins.

This new milestone comes just four days after Johnson-Lynch won her 100th game Cyclone coach.

“It’s great. I think we’re having a really fun, great season, and I think it’s a reflection of a program that has improved each year and taken another step up each year. I also think it’s a reflection of great leadership,” Johnson-Lynch said.

With only two games remaining in the regular season, Johnson-Lynch has an opportunity to win the most games ever won in a season, surpassing former coach Jackie Nunez’s 24-win season almost 15 years ago.

Senior setter Kaylee Manns reflected on the win total, believing it to be something Johnson-Lynch deserves. Manns credits Johnson-Lynch for helping her become what she is today: Iowa State’s all-time leader in assists.

“When I came here I didn’t really know much [about setting],” Manns said. “She’s helped me grow as a player and as a person, and I am forever grateful for everything she’s done for me since I’ve been here.”

Johnson-Lynch understands the significance of this number, but remains focused on the ultimate goal for this season.

“I don’t know about most memorable season. There’s a lot of matches left, so we’ll see; it could potentially be the most memorable,” Johnson-Lynch said.

Scoring Runs Key — The ability of the Cyclones to create comfortable leads Wednesday against Kansas came from the team’s ability to go on runs.

Between the three sets, Iowa State was able to go on scoring runs of 6–0, 4–0 and 3–0 multiple times. Manns played a large part in these scoring opportunities collecting 38 assists.

Iowa State believes the combination of scoring runs and consistent scoring opportunities were key in Wednesday’s victory as well as this season.

“If you start putting pressure on the other team, they start getting rattled and you get the opportunity to keep running points,” Manns said. “As you play these top 25 teams like we do in the Big 12 pretty much every match, you just start learning how to better the ball. I try to put up the best ball for my hitters, but sometimes it’s not that great. Through the season you just start learning what to do with those sets.”

The pressure to play perfect volleyball and to keep a good rhythm has been one of the key focuses this season. Johnson-Lynch credited the emphasis on defense and passing to the victory.

“[Scoring runs] are important when you’re playing a good team,” Johnson-Lynch said. “If you can get a little bit of a spread then the pressure’s off you, you don’t have to be so perfect. When we pass and when we play defense we get into a good rhythm and we can get on a roll.”

Defense strong again — With names like Destinee Hooker, Sarah Ammerman and Paola Ampudia rounding out the top five in the Big 12 in kills, Iowa State was challenged yet again, facing off against the Jayhawks’ outside hitting combo of Allison Mayfield and Karina Garlington.

Mayfield ranks fourth in the Big 12 in kills while Garlington ranks sixth. The duo combined for just 11 kills and hit .05 percent. Despite this, Iowa State was still unhappy with its defensive efforts against the Jayhawks.

“We’re noted as a defensive team,” Manns said. “I don’t think we did that great defensively tonight, and our coaches didn’t think we did either. We’ve been kind of lackadaisical these past couple practices, and we told ourselves we need to get after it. After tonight we saw that our defense was starting to slack a little bit. We were not in places we were supposed to be, we’re not running down balls that we can.”