VOLLEYBALL: Cyclones fall to Huskers

Shane Lucas

After getting their first win against Nebraska in school history last month, the ISU volleyball team will have to wait until next season to get their second.

Nebraska (18-6, 11-4 Big 12) stunned a record-attendance crowd of 10,203 at Hilton Coliseum, sweeping the Cyclones (20-4, 12-3) 16-25, 22-25, 23-25 on Saturday night.

“I thought we came out really tentative,” said coach Christy Johnson-Lynch. “We played like we had a lot to lose and as our program gets better and better, we’ve got to be able to handle that kind of pressure.”

Nebraska dominated the match from beginning to end, hitting .327 and holding Iowa State to a .178 percentage. The Huskers played a completely different game from their loss to Iowa State on Oct. 21.

“They definitely learned a lot from when we beat them before,” said freshman middle blocker Jamie Straube. “They were running different plays and knew what we were going to expect so they twisted that around.”

The first set created the tone for the rest of the match as Nebraska out-blocked Iowa State 3-0 and easily hit through the Cyclone block.

“I thought we served pretty easy and that put a lot of pressure on our blockers,” Johnson-Lynch said. “When you serve easy, they pass right to target and can set anyone they want.”

The second set saw much of the same as Nebraska jumped out to a 19-10 lead. However, Iowa State’s offense and block were able to improve to bring them back into the match. A late 12-6 run put the Cyclones back within two points before Nebraska middle blocker Brooke Delano spiked the ball past a diving freshman Jamie Straube to end the set.

“Our trainer came in and goes ‘has anyone seen the Iowa State volleyball team,” said senior setter Kaylee Manns. “We had girl before the match talking about how nervous they were. We just started worrying about distractions and not the game of volleyball.”

The Cyclones came alive at the beginning of the third set and jumped to an early 4-0 lead. The teams would trade points back and forth until Nebraska gained their first lead of the set at 15-14. After an Iowa State timeout, sophomore outside hitter Kelsey Petersen recorded back-to-back kills to tie the game at 23-23. However, Nebraska ripped two straight kills of their own to clinch the sweep.

The problems didn’t lie just in play at the net. The Cyclones struggled receiving serves and passing, which is normally one of their strongest areas.

“On balls that we normally pass to target, we just looked a little nervous and weren’t as aggressive with,” Johnson-Lynch said.

The Cyclone defense also struggled, allowing numerous shots to hit the floor without being touched, which resulted in four Nebraska players hitting over .300.

“We’re normally a great, scrappy defensive team but we didn’t do any of that at all,” Manns said. “On balls that we would normally get up, everyone just kind of looked at each other for it.”

The loss ends the Cyclones’ 11-game win streak, but there are many lessons that the team plans to take from the loss.

“It’s a reality check for us,” Straube said. “We’ve had some great wins but at the same time, we can’t take anything for granted. We can take it like it’s the end of the world, or we can learn from it and go up from here.”

Sophomore outside hitter Rachel Hockaday had a match-high 10 kills and was the only player for either team to reach double-digits. Sophomore middle blocker Debbie Stadick had eight kills while junior outside hitter Victoria Henson and Petersen each had seven. Junior libero Ashley Mass recorded a match-high 18 digs.

Nebraska’s balanced attack was lead by Lindsey Licht, Kori Cooper and Hannah Werth, who each recorded nine kills. Werth also led the team with 15 digs while Sydney Anderson had a match-high 39 assists.

The Cyclones will be back in action against Texas A&M on Wednesday night. First serve is set for 6:30 from College Station.