Aside from a few slams by sophomore Victoria Henson, many of the kills the ISU volleyball team had Saturday were not worth marveling over.

Against Kansas State, Iowa State did what it entered Hilton Coliseum to do, and that was to effectively use the opponents’ block. Point after point, the Cyclones overcame the Wildcats in a 3-0 sweep by hitting off the opposing block again and again.

Hitting high off the Kansas State blockers’ hands, or tooling, was crucial and will continue to be important for the Cyclones against all conference opponents this season.

“Big 12 is full of huge blockers, so that’s one of the main ways that we are taught to get our kills, to hit high and use the block,” said sophomore outside hitter Rachel Hockaday. “It’s hard to get just a clean kill when there are two big blockers on you.”

Whether it was a hit off the fingertips of Wildcat outside hitter JuliAnne Chisholm and middle blocker Kelsey Chipman, or a swipe off the side of the block that sent the ball sailing into the stands, Hockaday found a way to use that block.

“I think she’s always been really good at that,” said senior middle blocker Diane Kieger. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone that good at tooling off the block.”

Hockaday finished with 13 kills, a high for the Cyclones, and an attacking percentage of .321. The 6-foot sophomore’s intensity added to the effect of her hitting as well.

“Whenever she’s going up, I just have so much confidence that she’s going to get a kill,” Kieger said. “She’s just so aggressive, and there’s a lot of leadership out of her.”

Hockaday finished with just four errors on the night, after hitting a blistering .571 percentage with just one error in the first two sets against Kansas State.

Transition play hurt the Cyclones against Baylor and Texas in their previous conference losses. Heading into the Kansas State matchup, the Cyclones wanted to focus on that, along with tooling.

“We’ve been working on quick transition, and I thought that looked good tonight. We got the ball to our middles and our right sides pretty quick out of transition, before the other side could really even set up,” said coach Christy Johnson-Lynch.

Sophomore Debbie Stadick displayed her improvements, also by tooling the block, but her transition play is something Johnson-Lynch noted following the game. A new position for Stadick puts more on her plate, transitioning being one of the things added to her list.

“That’s something I think she has made huge strides in, and the position she’s playing this year she’s got a bigger load, offensively, to take,” Johnson-Lynch said. “I think she’s doing a really good job of getting off the net and getting a good approach back into the attack.”

Against Kansas State, there were points when Stadick was up and ready for the attack before the Wildcat defense could get a block up. The 6-foot-3 middle blocker tallied eight kills and two block assists in the Cyclones’ effort. As she bobs up and down after each point the Cyclones score, her energy is evident on the court.

“I think she’s really talkative, trying to get excited, trying to get everyone going,” Kieger said. “Playing-wise, she’s really gotten a lot better, especially in the front. She’s just been getting up really quick — and even if it’s not the clean kill, just getting her arm up.”

Even as senior setter Kaylee Manns pushes the ball out to the left-side hitter, or back sets to a right side, Stadick is quickly up in the air and throwing off opponents with her false attempt.

Aside from the hitting improvements, passing was something the Cyclones had hoped to execute more effectively after the losses to Texas and Baylor. Hockaday displayed her improvements on the defensive side, posting eight digs.

“Texas is a great team, but the Baylor loss kind of burned,” Hockaday said. “We definitely came into practice this week to work on the things we need to work on, which is defense and putting the ball down, and I think we did a better job of that.”